Index

My love and passion for netball and for coaching has been the foundation of my PhD research and now this book. I hope to have an impact on increasing the percentage of female high-performance coaches across various sporting codes in New Zealand.

I hope, too, to continue coaching for as long as possible. A coach never stops learning and must take every opportunity to grow, be open to new ideas, and be brave enough to take risks. The longer I’ve coached, particularly at the higher levels, the more I’ve come to realise how much is involved in the role. One of the key lessons I’ve learnt is that I don’t have to pretend to know everything. It’s more than okay to admit my weaknesses. It’s been far more beneficial for my own growth as a coach to admit the areas I needed further development in and to be confident, not ashamed, to ask for help. When I realised this, I found myself a mentor, Nic Lush, who I continue to work with to this day. Nic has supported me, challenged me, encouraged and pushed me.

I am steadily making my way through the modules and practical observations for the Netball New Zealand Performance Coach qualification. Most recently this involved being observed by former Silver Ferns head coach Waimarama Taumaunu and, another of my childhood idols, former Silver Ferns captain and the best centre in the team’s history, Sandra Edge. This was both terrifying and exhilarating!

Team culture and leadership are key themes in this book, but when I first began coaching, I had absolutely no idea what team culture was. I did not know the impact it could have on a team or how to develop it. When I completed my master’s thesis I spent time with the Northern Mystics ANZ franchise team; this was my first introduction to the concept, and my growing interest in its positive or negative impact on performance motivated me to investigate the links between team culture, leadership and winning at an elite level with the Silver Ferns.

As I learnt more about team culture, I recognised its absence from my own coaching. I began to adapt what I was learning to creating a positive team culture within the Palmerston North Girls’ High School Senior A1 netball team. Over the next four years the team’s rituals included player/parent barbecues, presentation of team uniforms and the formal announcement of the captain. Regular team bonding sessions were part of the training calendar, and involved pizza, laser-tag, 10-pin bowling, anything outside of the ‘netball’ environment. Team values were discussed and agreed upon as a collective, and leadership groups were established.