That applies both to riding horses and tackling sheep growing up on her Arrowtown farm to now jostling with the world’s best sevens stars on the international circuit.
That southern grit and strong work ethic have put her on the right track to making quite a name for herself in the Black Ferns Sevens.
Fresh off winning the Hong Kong Sevens title last week, Watherston told the Otago Daily Times it had been a great couple of days celebrating the Black Ferns’ fourth consecutive victory at the Asia event and their first of the world championship schedule.
‘‘It was honestly such an unreal tournament.
‘‘Being the 50th in Hong Kong — even without it being a big milestone, it’s a massive tournament.
‘‘Then just being the first one of the three, it started as a clean slate ... it was just unreal to be able to go and beat Aussie again.’’
Watherston’s journey to the elite leagues has been rapid.
Her father, Andrew, who is originally from Kurow, played for the Red Devils and North Otago, her mother, Fiona, played for the North Otago women’s team, and she and older sisters Beth, Molly and Nell grew up around the sport.
‘‘In high school, two of my older sisters played and I always wanted to play. We’re farm girls so it was rough and tumble.
‘‘When I was 16 ... I switched to the rugby ball from horses.’’
She played for Wakatipu High School, coached by former New Zealand sevens and Highlanders player Brad Fleming, who recognised the youngster’s talent.
Watherston, 21, debuted for the Otago Spirit while at school but was keen to look for sevens opportunities.
Fleming used his connections in Mount Maunganui to help Watherston move in with his friends — she still lives with them now — in the area.
‘‘For my last year of high school, I moved to Mount Maunganui, just because there was not a lot of exposure down south for rugby,’’ Watherston said.
‘‘Dunedin was the closest and it was a three-hour drive, so not very handy when I only had my restricted licence.’’
She finished her final year at Mount Manganui College, played club rugby for the Mount Marlins and was picked up for Bay of Plenty in the Farah Palmer Cup.
She was named in the Chiefs Manawa for two seasons, but never made it on to the field, and jumped at the opportunity to play for various sevens teams in New Zealand and overseas.
That led to a Black Ferns Sevens development contract and moved into a fulltime opportunity in the past 18 months.
Playing sevens professionally had always been her target and she circled making the Los Angeles Olympics as her long-term goal.
‘‘I think the main thing that I’ve absolutely loved is just being able to be in fulltime and let that be my life, like being a professional athlete.
‘‘It just has a lot of positive impacts with performance and all that because I don’t have to work fulltime, train early mornings — I can just go full focus and really live being an athlete day to day.’’
Watherston has drawn comparisons to Black Ferns Sevens great Sarah Hirini for her high work rate on the field.
That is something she attributes to her Otago upbringing and her parents, who have been her ‘‘main pillars’’ and biggest supporters throughout her career.
‘‘One of my strengths is just sort of my work ethic and grit just to keep going no matter what.
‘‘I definitely reckon that has come from being a farm girl and just following Mum and Dad’s footsteps and just looking up to them — I’ve got them to thank for that.’’
Watherston made her first trip back to Arrowtown since Christmas last week to surprise her father before returning north for a four-week training block ahead of the second leg of the world championship in Spain on May 29-31.
