This time, Jamie-Lee Price made sure there would be no room to be told no.
After being named a travelling reserve for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, the Australian netball star will be a key member of the powerful squad that will defend its gold medal in Glasgow.
There were tears when coach Stacey Marinkovich broke the bad news four years ago that Price would be so close to a Games debut, yet so far.
And there were tears last month when the penny that dropped four years ago resulted in Price's inevitable selection.
"The 'disappointment' call was heartbreaking. I feel like both times I did it in a car - I don't know why. Of course I pulled over, because you never know what call you're going to get ... either way, you're going to cry," she told AAP
"The second time, I said I would just love if you'd text me a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down.
"But no, it was really good news. I was crying happy tears this time, which was really nice."
What effectively happened was her dad suddenly became a font of great wisdom.
He is Steve Price, the rugby league great, who knows all about high performance and dealing with failure.
He had warned his daughter, who was becoming stressed in the Diamonds squad by comparing herself to teammates.
"I felt like I was never really 100 per cent confident in my ability," the centre-court star said.
"Dad would always be like 'right, just stop and realise what you can bring to a team - you're not going to realise until you get dropped one day'.
"I'm like 'whatever Dad'. When you don't make a team, obviously devastated - 'you're really right, you're so wise after all'."
So Price went to Birmingham, soaked up the Games experience and made a vow to herself that next time she would be playing.
"It was refreshing and it was a wake-up call for me - 'this is what you can bring to a team, these are your strengths',' she said.
"Why am I putting so much pressure on myself, to be someone I'm not, when I had been selected so many times because of what I can bring.
"That was a real light-bulb moment."
Perspective also comes from her fiance, Collingwood defender Harry Perryman.
"I love it. We have that understanding of what high performance is," she said
"There's such a special balance with us two - we don't really talk too much about what happened in the day ... why do we want to bring it home?
"The worst is when someone wins and the other one loses.
"We know we can't play forever - it's a moment in time."
Perryman is rapt that Price is realising her Games dream. He also joked that a few friends might be invited around for beers while she is overseas.
The Magpie also noted with a grin that they have home renovations under way.
"I have to move everything out of the house while she's over in Glasgow," he said.
"I'm doing the heavy lifting, so I have a few busy weeks ahead.
"She's definitely planned it, so she doesn't have to move stuff out. She's not bad."
Australian Associated Press
