Shakira Baker

Shakira Baker (born 4 January 1992) is a New Zealand rugby union and rugby league player. She has represented New Zealand in both the fifteens and sevens rugby, plus rugby league.

Rugby career 2011 Baker made her provincial debut at 16 for Wellington before making her test debut for the Black Ferns in 2011 against England.

2012 Baker was one of the 800 young women who attended the “Gold for Gold” Sevens trials in 2012 organized to identify talent with the potential to represent New Zealand in the Sevens competition at the Rio Olympics. At the trial she attended she was put through various fitness, rugby skills and character assessment activities. She was one of the most promising 30 who then attended a camp at Waiouru. This led to Baker playing both for the Sevens team as well as the Fifteen a side Black Ferns.

2013 In 2013 during a routine medical exam an electrocardiogram led to the discovery that she had a rare disorder of the heart's electrical system called Long QT syndrome which can lead to dangerous heart rhythms, fainting and sudden cardiac arrest. In her case it can be triggered by physical activity. She was treated first with a sympathectomy, where the nerve that controls the heart rate was burned in order to prevent it going over a certain rate, before key-hole surgery was used to cut the nerve supply to her heart.

Baker was selected for the New Zealand women's sevens team to the 2016 Summer Olympics. In 2022, she was named as a non-travelling reserve for the Black Ferns Sevens squad to the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

In December 2022, She was confirmed as one of three final signings for Hurricanes Poua for the 2023 Super Rugby Aupiki season.

2024 On 20 September 2024 it was reported that she had signed for the New Zealand Warriors to play in the NRLW

Personal life Of Māori descent, Baker affiliates to the Ngāti Kahungunu iwi.