Maria Tutaia - Silver Fern
Smoking status: Non-smoker
Maria Tutaia has been all over the world shooting goals with blinding accuracy as one of our most prized Silver Ferns. She believes there is no way you can be serious about sport and be a smoker at the same time and is proud to reveal that being smokefree definitely helped her get to where she is right now.
Interview
Would you go out with a smoker?
No, definitely not. No can't stand it, definitely wouldn't go out with a smoker. Like I said before odours, staining of teeth, fingernails and stuff like that it's not very attractive at all, so no I definitely wouldn't date a smoker.
Being a sportsperson, do you see a lot of smoking in netball?
I don't know any netballers who smoke now, and not just from netball - any elite sport. There's no way you could be serious about your profession and want to succeed, and smoke. I wouldn't be where I am right now if it wasn't for growing up seeing what smoking has done to a lot of people, you know? Being smokefree has definitely helped me get to where I am right now.
Do you think it is socially acceptable to refuse a smoke?
Yeah definitely. I've refused to smoke many times. I've had a lot of people that have tried to, when I was young, peer pressure me into smoking and to say no is huge, you know big ups to the ones that refuse to smoke.
Do you think it is still socially acceptable for people to smoke?
If someone were to smoke around me then I would not like it, I would move away. I can't stand it, so no I don't think it's socially acceptable.