She was born in Pretoria and matriculated from Afrikaans Hoër Meisieskool in 2007.
Initially, she studied BSc Medicine in Bloemfontein for two years, but according to her Bloemfontein was just too small. In her own words: “You can take the city out of the girl, but not the girl out of the city!”.

Her netball career started in primary school, but really kicked off when she went to high school. She was the u/17 captain, u/19 SA Schools captain, and she played in the u/19 SA University team and the u/21 SA University team.

During 2011 she was chosen for the SA Protea Netball Team. They are planning on visiting Singapore in July 2011 where they will take part in an international competition. They stand a good chance to end under the top four teams, and according to Vanes-mari, their greatest opponents are Jamaica.

She enjoys her course at Tuks tremendously and dreams of one day combining sport with industrial psychology.

“I can only thank God for my achievements and successes” she says. Her favourite pastime is spending time with friends, going to the movies and especially being outside. Her favourite food is pizza with balsamic vinegar.