It is the reason she is in Dunedin this weekend, the national championships having begun at the Edgar Centre yesterday and continuing today.
More importantly it is the reason she was on the Gold Coast for the Commonwealth Games and why she has an eye on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.It has been a big year for the 28-year-old, who has come a long way in the sport after getting into it through judo four years ago.
"We always lacked training partners [in judo], so I’ve always looked to cross train," she said.
"I had a friend who did wrestling and she needed a training partner for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, so I just said ‘I’ll help you out — I don’t know how to wrestle but I know how to do judo’.
"Then we found out judo wasn’t in the 2018 Commonwealth Games, so I spoke with Mark [Grayling], my coach, and he was like ‘why don’t you do wrestling?’"
She left her Christchurch home and moved to Tauranga to train with Grayling, something she was pleased to have done.
The move and her patience both paid off when she qualified for the Commonwealth Games.
She showed plenty of resolve too, carrying on after "shattering" a finger the day before leaving for a three-week training camp in Japan in the Games’ lead-in.
"The doctor was pretty much like ‘you can’t wrestle with that’.
"They weren’t that happy I went over, but as soon as I came back I had surgery."
The Games had been an "amazing" experience.
While she found herself in a pool with the two top opponents, the set-up had been great and the atmosphere was mind-blowing.It had been a good taster against more experienced opponents, and beating them was her goal.
The New Zealand championships were not quite on the same level, but she was enjoying being in Dunedin for them.
She would compete in the 62kg category, which meant she was cutting less weight than she was for the 57kg grade she entered internationally.
Alongside Brahm Richards, she is one of two Games competitors in action today.
"It’s always nice to be back home and be amongst this.
"The kids really look up to you and it’s cool to encourage them and go ‘if I can do it, you can do it’."
She will have to wait for a break afterwards though.
Judo still figures largely in her life and she has the national championships for that in two weeks’ time.
After that her sights turned to qualifying for the biggest stage of all.
"The goal is the Olympics.
"I think I’m really going to go for 2020 and try out for that, as long as I’m injury-free.
"I think I’m going to go overseas next year and do proper training camps and really get out there."
