You had to be if you were going to survive netball in the late 1960s.
The 60-year got her start in the sport as an 8-year-old. The midcourter would catch the bus from Green Island to Caversham and then run to Memorial Courts in St Kilda.
It was not unusual for the outdoor courts to be covered in ice. Brrrrr.
In the 50-odd years that have passed since those bracing first encounters with the game, Ensor has done just about everything there is to do in netball and has not lost any of her passion for her beloved sport.
She played into her 50s, she has coached, she still umpires and she is a "calm no non-sense" leader and administrator.
And we checked — she has even been known to pump up the netballs.
Her list of achievements stretch into pages, really. And for her long service she was made a life member of the Dunedin Netball Centre late last month.
The understated Ensor described the award as an honour.
"I’m humbled and very surprised to get it," she said.
Ensor, who collected the Netball New Zealand service award in 2017, started umpiring at high school and continues to officiate in club games.
She has also coached the game and had the privilege of coaching Olivia Bates, who went on to play for the Steel.
Ensor, who is the general manager of Cooke Howlison Toyota, has also made a chunky contribution as an administrator. She was on the board of Netball Otago for 10 years and was chairwoman for four.
She was instrumental in the tidy wind-up of Netball Otago when Netball New Zealand introduced a zone structure in 2012, and has been on the board of Netball South since the changeover.
Dunedin Netball Centre operations manger Lee-Anne Anderson wrote that Ensor’s commitment to "the development of netball in this region for the wider benefit of the game from grassroots through to national level" had been unwavering.
"Adrienne’s strengths in netball have been as a quiet, calm no-nonsense-style leader," Anderson said.
Ensor was in England last year to see the Silver Ferns win the World Cup.
But it is the friendships and the people she has met which have kept her involved in the sport so long.
"It is the people," she responded.
"It is great to watch the Silver Ferns but it is seeing the young ones run around and helping them to improve."
Ensor has seen many changes in half a century but said the sport had to evolve.
"To stay an interesting sport you’ve got to keep evolving. All sports are vying for players so you have to keep it interesting."
Ensor feels the game is in good health. The Silver Ferns’ win at the World Cup generated some excitement and extra interest. But challenges remain and the biggest are financial.
"Even though we are very fortunate to have the ILT [Invercargill Licensing Trust] supporting us, we still need far more money that what they give us.
"Winning the world champs has revitalised it but we’ve got to continue to make it exciting for the young ones to keep wanting to play."
