Silver Ferns

COMMERCIAL REPORT

The impact of COVID-19 threw up a myriad of challenges but once again Netball received outstanding support from our loyal band of partners and the ability to deliver some special opportunities in far from normal times. We are continually grateful for the unwavering backing Netball enjoys; in 2021 that was highlighted by a combined willingness and spirit from all involved in ensuring events kept running wherever possible.

For the Silver Ferns, this included lastminute changes of locations and the introduction of a new series. With the collective weight of our fantastic support base behind us as well, this meant there were plenty of positives to come out of an eventful year.

The strong brand that is associated with the Silver Ferns showed continued growth thanks to our regular partners while also attracting new ones.

Featuring on the Silver Ferns dress for the first time, Altherm Window Systems were welcomed on board in 2021. This was a significant achievement during testing times and demonstrates the growing recognition and increasing importance of women’s sport.

Broadcast

Showcasing large doses of inventiveness and flexibility, Sky Sport worked tirelessly alongside us to make dates and venues work under extreme time pressures this year. This was particularly evident around the Silver Ferns, who faced numerous disruptions through lockdowns, venue changes and a late series added to their programme.

The partnership between Sky and TVNZ, as its free-to-air partners for the Silver Ferns matches against the England Roses and Aotearoa Men, proved to be a great success in highlighting a considerable lift in important demographic groups.

The March Constellation Cup series against Australia performed well also in a non-traditional window for international Netball.

The Silver Ferns matches were streamed on Sky Go and Sky Sport Now as well, while playing out into territories across the globe via our offshore streaming platform.

During difficult times, when the Silver Ferns played just one of their 10 Tests in front of crowds, Monstavision played an integral role in showcasing our partners’ in-venue presence via the LED screens they had set up. In a stunning visual presentation, they provided the razzle dazzle in impressive fashion.

Silver Ferns Broadcast Numbers

Viewership of the ANZ Premiership grew by 35 percent compared with the previous year and the feat of over one million New Zealanders watching at some point during the 2021 season was achieved once again.

Netball New Zealand

Many of our partners traverse different areas of our game and NNZ remains grateful for the continued support we receive across the spectrum, from grassroots to the elite level.

NNZ’s long-term partner ANZ extended its support of Netball with a return as naming rights sponsor for the popular futureFERNS programme.

The ANZ futureFERNS is the official junior Netball programme for Years 1 to 8 and designed as a game to grow with the players. The initiative progresses through modified formats aimed at meeting the needs of the players in each age group, ensuring a lifelong participation.

This partnership is the second time ANZ has backed the futureFERNS programme which promotes players to have more touches on the ball, more play, more shots at goal and more fun.

ANZ supports at grassroots level also, through its ANZ Grants programme, which has delivered more than $800,000 to community Netball over the years.

Cadbury extended its support of Netball as Principal Volunteer Partner for another two years, building on its foundations of acknowledging and rewarding the thousands of volunteers who dedicate their time to the sport.

NNZ and the Silver Ferns entered a new partnership with Stryker this year too. This is one of the world’s leading medical technology companies and manufacturer of global Automatic External Defibrillator (AED), LIFEPAK and HeartSine devices, among other products. It has served the medical community for over 80 years, working in partnership with customers to make healthcare better.

In cementing the partnership, Stryker has become an official AED provider to the Silver Ferns, who now travel with an AED, both in New Zealand and when touring overseas.

New Zealand’s leading flower delivery brand, Interflora, partnered with NNZ also as an official supplier during 2021. In an exclusive three-year partnership, Interflora has become the Official Florist of both NNZ and the Silver Ferns.

Celebration Box, a fast-growing, New Zealand owned and operated gift box and flower brand, became the official naming rights sponsor for the inaugural NNZ U18 Champs held in July.

G.J. Gardner Homes continued its relationship as the official sponsor of umpires across all levels of the game.

Taking on roles as naming rights partners for the Open Champs and Secondary Schools Netball Champs, respectively, NZ Police and FUJIFILM Business Innovation had their involvement dashed for a second successive year when COVID-19 forced both events to be cancelled. However, both partners remained involved in other capacities.

Barfoot & Thompson continued its great work as an official sponsor of our High Performance coaching programmes.

The relationship between ASICS and our age-group teams continued in 2021, as did Gilbert as official ball supplier for all our NNZ-run tournaments and competitions. Our official rental vehicle partner, Thrifty Rental Vehicles, endured another difficult year in the tourism market and we look forward to supporting them whenever possible in the future.

We welcomed our association with printing partner Benefitz for a second year in 2021.

Silver Ferns

After renewing its partnership last year, principal partner of the Silver Ferns MYOB continued its strong presence when leveraging its relationship in several different ways.

The three-year partnership with Altherm, who have signed on as a major partner of NNZ and the Silver Ferns, was launched during the Silver Ferns three-Test series against England. The company has a long history of supporting high performance sport, community initiatives and athletes nationwide.

After signing on for a further two years, Cadbury celebrated a third year as principal partner of the Cadbury Netball Series.

ANZ has supported Netball in New Zealand for over two decades, and is currently the principal partner of the ANZ Premiership. But ANZ has a continued presence with the Silver Ferns as well, highlighting its strong support of New Zealanders across many facets of the community.

In addition, the Silver Ferns enjoyed ongoing stalwart support from PUMA, Suzuki, Special K, Frucor/Gatorade, Mediaworks and Thrifty Vehicle Rentals. After joining last year, Pantene were back for a second year, offering a range of fantastic initiatives.

Baby-G (Casio) were back for a second year as well, and were heavily involved in product gifting for fans where permissible.

We would like to also acknowledge PTP Fitness, Voyager, SKINS, ASICS, Gilbert, USL, GO Media and Augustine for their ongoing contribution and support.

ANZ Premiership

Havng the 2021 ANZ Premiership completed unscathed in 2021 was a great success story, to which our partners made significant contributions. ANZ’s support remains a key component in helping deliver the elite showpiece of the domestic season.

Suzuki was a prominent player also, its branding featuring on the goalpost pads and the goal circle decal.

Gilbert, MYOB, ASICS, Baby-G, Sky Sport, Mediaworks and GO Media as partners, along with G.J. Gardner Homes, who partnered with the match officials, were strong supporters of the ANZ Premiership too.

National Netball League (NNL)

After being cancelled the previous year due to COVID-19, the ever-popular NNL made a welcome return in 2021.

We would like to acknowledge the support we received from Smith City, Beko and Sky during the competition.

Funding Organisations

NNZ offers our grateful thanks and appreciation for the support received from the following organisations (in no particular order):

• New Zealand Community Trust • The Lion Foundation • One Foundation • The Southern Trust • Trillian Trust • Rata Foundation • Sport New Zealand • High Performance Sport New Zealand • ACC

We also wish to thank many other trusts and funders from around the country that support Netball locally.

COMMUNITY REPORT

ANZ futureFERNS

ANZ, NNZ’s long-term partner, has been proud to be back as naming rights sponsor for the futureFERNS programme this year. Running in Centres throughout New Zealand, ANZ futureFERNS has helped the new generation of Years 1 to 8 kids to develop their Netball skills and enable them discover a love for the sport.

HIGHLIGHTS

• A total of 57,473 players participated in ANZ futureFERNS in 2021.

• This season has seen four successful

Festival Days run in Central Otago,

Hawke’s Bay, Thames Valley and

Christchurch with more than 800 kids attending. • Over 2,000 ANZ futureFERNS coaches have been trained throughout the country to support the ANZ futureFERNS programme. • An online Community Netball Store was set up to provide accessibility to equipment and resources for all ANZ futureFERNS programmes. • There were a significant number of people accessing the ANZ futureFERNS online coaching resources and over 6,000 views on the ANZ futureFERNS coaching videos. • A total of 37 Year 7 & 8 Player

Development Programmes were completed nationwide. • The ANZ futureFERNS umpiring module was launched online.

• A successful ANZ futureFERNS social media campaign was launched with a reach of 95.8k total views and a record number of Team of the Month entrants with four teams taking away ANZ futureFERNS equipment packs. • Year 7 & 8 longitudinal research was completed. • Some Centres successfully trialled the

No Limits Netball Disability programme which will progress into more Centres participating in 2022.

Community Coaching

Communities continue to support coaching through formal and informal coach development programmes including in schools and clubs. This ongoing support allows coaches to thrive as they navigate the NNZ Coaching Framework and associated workshops for learning.

The NNZ Community Coaching Strategy 2021-2024, was launched in February. This is a unique tactical approach to coaching, embracing coaches of players, coaches of umpires, coach developers and coach trainers.

One of the positives to come out of COVID-19 and lockdowns has been our ability to innovate and connect with our coaches. This year a significant amount of work has been achieved in bringing our online learning platform to life through Sport Tutor. This will allow coaches from across the country to access learning at suitable times.

During the year, we welcomed Tom Houghton (Mainland) and Kim Hunt (WBOP) into Zone Trainer and Coach Lead roles. They join Lana Morrison (South), Kelly Hynson (Central), Rachel BrowneCole and Chonnaire Huriwai (Northern). This tight-knit group has undertaken a substantial volume of work, alongside their Centres in building the capacity and capability of coach developers and coach support people.

A highlight of the 2021 calendar was the Celebration Box Netball NZ U18 Champs in Rotorua. The coaching, umpiring and NetballSmart teams collaborated to support coaches, umpires and coach developers. This year, support and development of coaches was established pre-tournament through several methods. The tournament atmosphere was highly inclusive, and the coaches provided feedback on how appreciative they were of the support they received. This highlights the importance of supporting coaches in any context that we operate in. Training of key Zone and Centre people such as coach developers continues to build. Extended lockdowns have proven challenging at times, so it has been pleasing to see adaptations (such as online forums) made to develop their abilities through our coaching system.

Performance Coaching

Hands-on coaching experiences for performance coaches kicked off in 2021. The coaching apprentice programme saw five coaches involved in the January National Development Camps held in Auckland, Palmerston North and Ashburton. A record number of secondary school players participated in a threeday camp led by the NZSS coaches Te Aroha Keenan (Head Coach) and Pelesa Semu (Assistant Coach). The apprentice coaches and specialist coaches were as follows:

South: Geni Tuilagi and Abbey McKenzie, 25 players Upper North: Ripeka Pirie, 35 players Lower North: John Atkins and Ashleigh Kate Araroa, 27 players Specialist Defence: Anna Galvan, Linda Vagana and Pelesa Semu Specialist Midcourt: Becs Gabel and Sandra Edge Specialist Shooter: Irene van Dyk, Jo Morrison and April Ieremia

The outcome of the camps was new learning, development and support for players, with an NZSS squad named. Given the challenging times, it is unfortunate that the NZSS team could not compete; however, this group provides ongoing support and connection.

The graduates of the pilot programme Composite Coach Qualification (CCQ) and Community Coach Award Level 2 have noticeably continued to strengthen the Performance Coach Qualification (PCQ) programme. This initiative targets premier level coaches for secondary schools, clubs, U18 and Open reps – working with players who sit at the top of community in a developing, competitive capacity. Most workshops have transferred online with expert facilitators delivering the various disciplines.

PERFORMANCE COACHES ACROSS THE COUNTRY:

Northern Waikato Bay of Plenty Central Mainland South

Rachel Stead being presented her PCQ Award by Dame Noeline Taurua.

Fundamentals for Coaching Success Roadshow 2021

The Fundamentals for Coaching Success saw roadshows delivered to all Zones. A total of 175 coaches enjoyed being taken through a journey of the importance of fundamental skills. This was presented by Dame Noeline Taurua, as well as via a multidisciplinary approach from her greater Silver Ferns management sharing knowledge and tips around physiotherapy, strength and conditioning, nutrition and psychology, combined with a holistic approach from Sharon Kearney and ACC NetballSmart.

Community Umpiring

It has to be said that the resilience, adaptability and perseverance of our umpires, umpire coaches, selectors and bench officials at community level ensured we were still able to provide quality development opportunities to our people while we navigated the current climate.

Our focus remains on our Umpire Coach Developer programme and in 2021 we were able to utilise 37 people to facilitate 88 workshops to just over 1,000 participants. In addition, nine umpire coach developers provided live support to 89 umpire coaches through 20 observation opportunities. These are significant increases on 2020 and the reach continues to grow as we build our network and align coach development philosophies across Netball.

In total, we have 1,993 qualified umpires supported by 596 umpire coaches. During 2021, 69 umpires achieved their Zone Umpire Award with a further 6 attaining their NZ Umpire Award.

We wrapped up another successful year with our umpire exams with higher-than-average pass rates. In total, 259 candidates sat umpire exams with 236 passing, which is a pass rate of just over 90 percent. A total of 196 umpires passed their Zone Theory exam (at a 93 percent pass rate) with 63 umpires passing their NZ Theory exam (at an 81 percent pass rate). ZONE UMPIRE LEADS Sharleen Morrell (Netball Northern) Jan Teesdale (Netball WBOP) Ann Hay (Netball Central) Geni Ah Tong (Netball Mainland) Colleen Bond (Netball South)

High Performance Umpiring

2021 was successful for our high performance umpires, umpire coaches and selectors. Over the past five years, we have strived to build depth and experience in our National Umpire Squad and now boast nine umpires at ANZ Premiership level who average 58 games each. This compares with just five averaging 36 games each in 2017. Coupled with a group of umpires who have over 25 games’ experience in the National Netball League (NNL), our coaches and selectors have done a wonderful job of selecting and developing umpires within a high performance environment.

We welcomed Tania Fink back into our squad after two years away to start a family. Marlissa Howard umpired in the NNL for the first time.

Josh Bowring umpired his 100th game across the ANZ Championship and Premierships and Cory Nicholls was awarded International Talent Identified (ITID) status by World Netball. In total, NNZ contracted five umpires with their International Umpire Award (IUA) and two with ITID status.

We farewelled Ann Hay at the beginning of the season following a stellar career that included over 60 games in elite domestic competitions in New Zealand.

The year saw umpires and team coaches in the ANZ Premiership working more closely together, beginning with a combined kōrero at the pre-season ANZ Premiership tournament in Ōtaki. This is an innovation that will benefit the game going forward. 2021 NATIONAL UMPIRE SQUAD Angela Armstrong-Lush (IUA) Joshua Bowring (IUA) Myron Elkington Gracey Farquharson Tania Fink (ITID) Gareth Fowler (IUA) Marlissa Howard Jess Lea Sasha McLeod (ITID) Ken Metekingi (IUA) Zak Middleton Cory Nicholls (ITID) Kristie Simpson (IUA) Michelle Stagg

NetballSmart

This year has been a year of growth for NetballSmart, as we strive to support all aspects of our Netball community. Launching the NetballSmart Centre Activator initiative marked a huge milestone in our journey to embedding NetballSmart principles into our community. Investing in our people on the ground has brought NetballSmart to life and established a platform from which to launch new ideas. This has led to a marked increase in awareness and presence.

As the healthy heart of Netball, we continually build and adapt our holistic injury prevention programme based on evolving evidence and injury statistics. Our resources and education reflect this and are easily accessible through our workshops, mobile-friendly website, social media channels and online learning.

NetballSmart has proved to significantly reduce the injury rate of Netball players throughout New Zealand. Contrary to the global trends, ACC stats are showing a steady decline of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries since the establishment of NetballSmart. This would not be possible without the tireless effort and expertise of the NetballSmart Development Officers (NSDOs), alongside the support of their respective Zones: Katie Adamson (Netball Northern), Jenne Jones-Poole (Netball Waikato Bay of Plenty), Carla van der Merwe (Netball Central), Hannah Coutts (Netball Mainland) and Renee Bacon (Netball South). Thank you to the wider Netball community for embracing NetballSmart and encouraging New Zealanders to become smart about Netball.

Youth

The NNZ Youth Engagement and Retention Strategy’s mission is to “connect and empower youth to provide participant-centred opportunities through quality Netball experiences”. With the impact of COVID-19, our Centres and Zones have taken it in their stride to provide innovative, quality opportunities for our rangatahi in a challenging environment. Through the strategy and our focus on a Balance is Better approach, we are building a powerful base for our rangatahi going forward.

With the support of Sport NZ’s Women + Girls funding, 11 Centres have been involved in delivering the Fast5 initiative, successfully growing participation and igniting a love of Netball. Each Centre’s Youth Advisory Group has co-designed and activated the Fast5 project. These groups have identified and worked through removing barriers to participation and developed programmes that are fun, relevant to our youth and delivered in safe and healthy environments that meet the needs of youth within their local communities.

In an ever-changing environment it is imperative to keep youth at the forefront of our decision-making and ensure that they have a voice across Netball. NNZ’s Youth Board: Georgia Trent, Hannah Bissit, Dylan Dodd, Brooklyn Fisher, Bella Howarth, Isabella Galvan, Ciccone Hakaraia-Turner, Olivia Lewis, Daphne Martinez (until August), Maddison OliverCoffey, Arisa Parr-Whalley and Hannah Soper. They have been proactive across their three focus groups – Balance is Better, Diversity and Engagement (social media, visibility). Youth Board members contribute to NNZ internal working groups, making sure that the youth voice is heard and understood. Alongside this, Georgia Trent is the Youth Intern on the NNZ Board.

Georgia Trent and Ciccone HakaraiaTurner were part of the Women + Girls Summit 2021, as panellists in discussions on “Change in action and Cultural approach.” These two young leaders, as well as England Netball’s Youth Board and Volleyball NZ’s Youth Board members, will be delivering a workshop on youth voice at the International Women + Girls Conference in 2022.

Volunteering

Our ongoing volunteer partnership with Cadbury has allowed NNZ to continue to recruit, acknowledge and thank our wonderful volunteers and ensure they feel valued and supported. We have connected volunteers back with their local Centres through our dedicated website and helped Centres to reward their volunteers with thank you packs and Volunteer of the Month Awards. We’ve also helped Cadbury to facilitate the installation of 21 Donate Your Kit lockers to local Netball Centres enabling the community to donate their sports equipment. After a disrupted season this year, it was wonderful to return to playing Netball and recognising our volunteers for their efforts as we completed the majority of the 2021 Netball season.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Centres and Zones said thank you to their volunteers with over 45,000

Cadbury Chocolate dairy milk bars distributed across New Zealand.

• A total of 576 nominations were received for the Volunteer of the Month

Awards.

• The Cadbury Volunteer Capability Fund pilot programme was rolled out to help develop the framework for 10 Netball

Centres to create their own volunteer strategy to help recruit, retain and reward their volunteers. Each Centre has appointed a Volunteer Lead as part of this initiative. • A total of 19 volunteer resources are now available on the NNZ website.

• The NetballShare project (ongoing) will aim to ensure NNZ is the central hub for all things Netball including editable templates and practical resources, specifically for our school and club administrators.

• We have increased the visibility of volunteers and their stories on NNZ,

Zone and Centre communication channels and celebrated Student

Volunteer and National Volunteer Week.

• Five volunteers will be awarded in the annual Cadbury Volunteer Awards across the categories of Coach,

Administrator, Official, Youth and

Community Champion. This year’s winners were announced – in a slightly different way this year – via Sky Sport on Wednesday 8 December during the live streaming of an online version of our annual NNZ Awards.

Sport Tutor

This year we launched Sport Tutor, our new learning and development platform which is designed to support learning and development for everyone involved in Netball. Since its release in March, there has been an excellent uptake in people engaged in learning with over 4,000 individual users.

Participants comprise a great mix of our community from administrators, Centre board members, coaches, players, umpires, club administrators, school co-ordinators, managers, parents to volunteers.

Our most popular course has been the Learning to Umpire module, with already more than over 3,500 people completing this so far. Our coaching modules are being well used too, with over 1,200 coaches completing modules to date. We are looking forward to implementing further learning opportunities on Sport Tutor to support our community, in the future.

Pacific Sporting Partnership (PSP)

With the addition of Vanuatu, Pacific Sporting Partnership (PSP) are now partnering with five countries – Samoa, Fiji, Cook Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu.

The ongoing restrictions from COVID-19 have had some impact on our direct delivery, especially in Fiji and required that we redevelop all programme resources and delivery methods to work remotely.

PSP was established in 2017 as a five year commitment, with the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT). The aim is to increase physical activity, and promote and encourage healthy lifestyles for young people in the Pacific. We have established partnerships with the Netball associations in each country, working closely with them to support the development of Netball with their young people and have partnerships with government and non-government organisations to promote healthy lifestyles.

Each country is unique in its sport development and health awareness approach, as such we work with the local Netball associations, government ministries, schools and local NGOs to develop locally relevant plans, utilising common programmes where useful.

We have developed accredited Netball coaching programmes endorsed by the Oceania Netball Federation, an accredited umpire development programme, a fundamental movement skills programme and a youth sport leadership programme, derived from the NNZ Netball Leaders. Our experts from NNZ and the Zones provide training in these programmes to local coach developers and umpire coaches. In 2021 this has included Nicola Jones, Ann Hay, Charissa Barnham, Ruta Tai and Irene van Dyk. In addition, we provide Netball equipment to schools, communities and clubs to support their training and development.

PSP is not just about Netball. All our programmes have nutrition and general healthy lifestyle components. In addition, we partner with nutrition focused organisations. Through our relationship with Hapai Te Hauora we have been able to use their Fizz Free Whānau campaign in the Cook Islands (Fizz Free Anau) and Samoa (Fizz Free Fanau), we work with the Pacific Island Food Revolution to deliver healthy cooking lessons, and have utilised the promotions from Pacific Heartbeat (NZ Heart Foundation) and the New Zealand Health Promotion Agency. In Vanuatu, we have established partnerships with the Vanuatu Family Health Association to support delivery of their reproductive health messages to young women and Wan Smolbag, a local NGO with a strong youth well-being focus.

This year there has been a specific focus on umpire development and the further development of the Pacific Island focused Netball Leaders programme. The umpire programme now takes facilitators and participants through a programme that can lead them to the New Zealand umpiring programmes if they wish to further enhance their credentials. The Netball Leaders programme has been running effectively in Fiji and Vanuatu, and by the end of 2022, will support participants to define and complete a community development programme of their design.

In Numbers

• 1,800+ teachers and volunteers accredited as

Oceania Foundation Coaches

• 57 Coach Developers trained who can locally deliver the Foundation Coach course

• 200+ teachers and student teachers trained in the

Fundamental Movement Skills programme to support their inclass physical education teaching to year 1-4 students • 174 Umpires trained • 800+ Netball kits given to schools and clubs

• 6 youth facilitators trained to deliver the Netball Leaders

Programme

Tania Dalton Foundation

The Tania Dalton Foundation, launched in 2017 to honour her sporting legacy, welcomed the fourth intake of deserving recipients to its Scholarship Programme in 2021.

Three Netballers were included among the 13 scholarship recipients for 2021 which honours the memory of Silver Fern #113, Tania Dalton - Kimberley Curry (Nelson), Sade Kaipara-Morrison (Cambridge) and Sera Ta’ei (Cambridge).

The Foundation was launched following the tragic death of Tania in 2017 and remains committed to honouring her passion for supporting young women in sport by co-ordinating a range of programmes aimed at making a positive impact with its main initiative being the Scholarship Programme.

The recipients of the first intake in 2018 are now part of the alumni and committed to supporting future scholars.

The programme supports talented young sportswomen from a variety of circumstances or those who will benefit from the unique and valuable support the Foundation can provide.

“We’re in our fourth year now, with the 2018 scholarship recipients becoming alumni. I am proud, as would Tania be, of the impact these girls are having in their respective sports and communities,” Tania’s husband and Founder Duane Dalton said.

The programme provides girls opportunities to connect with likeminded athletes and experienced mentors. The support from these mentors, scholarship funders and the community is testament to the widereaching impact Tania had on people across a range of sports.

“Following Tania’s footsteps, we’re encouraging these girls to see themselves as future role models and leaders in their communities, finding ways to work alongside and inspire them to realise their ultimate dreams,” Duane said.

“And we’re looking forward to helping our 2021 scholarship recipients achieve success just as we have in previous years.”

Scholarship Recipients Class of 2021:

Sylvia Brunt (Rugby) Auckland

Zoe Crawford (Surf Life Saving) Auckland

Kimberley Curry (Netball) Nelson

Jyordanna Davey (Basketball) Lower Hutt

Marama Downes (Cricket) Auckland

Sade Kaipara-Morrison (Netball) Cambridge

Veisinia Mahutariki-Fakalelu (Touch) Hamilton

Mia McCausland (Touch) Auckland

Bree McCowatt (Surf Life Saving) Ngatea

Melika Samia (Basketball) Tauranga

Ruby Tawa (Rugby) Tauranga

Luisa Togotogorua (Rugby) Auckland

Sera Ta’ei (Netball) Cambridge