Dame Noels: ‘A huge cost on my career and life'
I fell into coaching. Back in 1999, I was 31 and still playing for the Ferns when I ruptured my anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). I was devastated.
Even though it was many years ago, I can still clearly remember that feeling of being down and out from a serious netball injury.
I had two ACL injuries during my playing career in the 1990s – one on each knee. The first one, I was younger, and I recovered well but the second one ended my career. It is a tough injury to come back from and it had a huge cost on both my career and life.
Back in those times, we weren't full-time athletes. We were holding down full-time jobs, so the challenge was even greater. I learnt a lot about what is required in terms of ticking all of the boxes in your rehabilitation.
I loved coaching straight away. It's one of those jobs that you learn through experience. Whether good experiences or not so good, you never stop learning.
I had the best of the best as a player. I was under the likes of Waimarama Taumaunu for over 10 years while I was playing in Wellington. Dame Lois Muir, at the end of her coaching career, Leigh Gibbs and Yvonne Willering were all huge influences on me. They shaped the way I coach now.
To coach in a sport that you love, at any level, is a privilege. I love working with people and getting the best out of them. It's about making that privilege as positive as it can be.
I love the feeling of being in the battle. Like when we are taking on Australia or England in a close game and your players are in the zone. It gives me immense pride to see my players express themselves and play with freedom on the biggest stage.
It's a hard place to get to, but when you do it is so beautiful and memorable. It is a bit of a rush.
Throughout my coaching career I have learnt a lot. We know that many serious injuries in our game are preventable.
We know that if players do the NetballSmart warm-up before they train or play, they can reduce their chances of serious injury by up to 50 percent.
This year I am helping with the relaunch of Netball Smart – it's not new, it's better. This work is led by Sharon Kearney [Ferns' lead physiotherapist] and we are so fortunate to have her knowledge and experience.
We are also lucky to have our partnership with ACC who have been proactive in supporting us and played a massive role in minimising injuries in our game.
We have listened to our netball community and feedback from players and coaches. The revised warm-up has an increased emphasis on the landing and deceleration components of the warm-up, and it is more game-specific.
Like all player welfare programmes, it's only successful if our community engages with it.
ACC data shows that the age brackets 10–14 and 15–19 have the most netball injuries every year so it's crucial that we imbed the values of NetballSmart into our players when they are young, so it's second nature.
Supporting this work is important to me because I know what this injury is like. It's also important that we continue to invest in our grassroots coaches and players. Our Silver Ferns come from the grassroots of our game.
That is our pathway from local level coming right through to high performance to the Silver Ferns.
I am often asked for my advice for coaches around Aotearoa. I tell them to make sure you understand clearly why you're coaching and make it simple for your players to follow what you are wanting to do.
Think about your player welfare and conditioning before you try to implement your strategy for the game.
But above all make it fun. We want people all over New Zealand to be playing netball from the grassroots to the national team and enjoying our beautiful game.
ACC claims – netball injuries
In 2024 ACC accepted 23,796 netball-related injuries which came at a cost of $48 million to help people recover.
In 2024 ACC accepted 373 ACL related netball injuries, and 335 of those were female.
What is NetballSmart
NetballSmart is an evidence-based framework made up of six principles. It helps improve your performance in sport by preventing injuries.
The six principles are: Smart preparation, Dynamic warm-up, Smart movement, Smart training, Smart Player Welfare / Wellbeing and Smart Injury Management.
The revised warm-up focuses more on increased emphasis on the landing and deceleration components of the warm-up and it is more game-specific.
For more: https://www.netballsmart.co.nz/
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