Taking on the World Series can be difficult for any 21-year-old, so it helps Kiiahla Berryman-Duff to call on two of the game's stars as family.
Berryman-Duff is the cousin of Commonwealth Games gold medalist Faith Nathan and Sariah Paki, watching them rise through the ranks before debuting together in Dubai last December.
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“Being at home watching them from the TV, it's almost like a fire lighting up inside saying, ‘I want to be there and do it with them’,” she told Rugby.com.au
“They're not just my inspiration; they're also a motivation for me to keep working hard at training. Sometimes it's hard, sometimes it's brutal, but they've done it, and I want to do exactly what they've done.
“I played a lot of Next Gen (Sevens) with Sariah, so now playing with Faith and Sariah is a massive honour.”
This means their Christmas Day touch games are a bit more competitive than most, with several others playing in the junior divisions of the NRL.
“At Christmas or just any family events, we just read each other's minds now,” Berryman-Duff said and smiled.
“...When we switch off from rugby and go back home to family, it's just pure family laughs and giggles. It's a really good environment.”
This connection was on full display in Dubai as Berryman-Duff and Nathan dazzled Canda with their one-two switch-back to set up the flyer and seal the win.
‘Lala’ praised the influence of Paki and Nathan in helping her settle in the hectic Sevens environment, having initially got a taste of it with the Australia A program.
“It's really good to have them in this team with me, knowing they have so much experience,” she admits.
“I can always message them or go to their room and talk to them about anything I need to be addressed. If I feel kind of upset for the day or not sure what I'm doing, I'll just go ask them as well as my captains.
“I just know they're an easy approach because they're family.”
Australia heads to Vancouver with one of the least experienced sides under coach Tim Walsh, with Maddison Levi (hand) and Paki (calf) on the sidelines until Hong Kong.
However, the next generation of Sevens talent, including Berryman-Duff, have confidence in each other coming through the system together so they can thrive at the next level.
“I think it's the more I play, the more confidence and game knowledge, so that time in Aussie A and NextGen, getting to go to France for two weeks and play against people with World Series experience from New Zealand and France was great,” she added.
“We talk a lot about these tournaments, and then to think about that we're playing together on the World Series is crazy.
“We all think about it saying last year we weren't even in the program, we were focusing on Aussie A trips.”
