Will to Win: New Zealand netball greats on team culture and leadership

(Paperback)

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A fascinating deep-dive into the development of the Silver Ferns' traditions, the evolution of team culture and the nuts-and-bolts of leadership at an elite sporting level. The 12 legendary players and coaches interviewed - including Lois Muir, Leigh Gibbs, Sandra Edge, Bernice Mene, Ruth Aitken and Casey Williams - candidly discuss the highs and lows of their careers, and of the Silver Ferns, the effect of the intense rivalry with Australia, coping with gut-wrenching losses, and the resilience of players and coaches. For the first time the perspective of these key actors is the subject of serious analysis, and the book is a real insight into the psychology of a women's highperformance team. As such, it provides a practical guide for developing team culture and leadership for netball coaches at all levels. It also includes comments from Farah Palmer and Noeline Taurua on women in sport and leadership, and a brief history of New Zealand netball, including the gains and losses as netball moved into a semi-professional era, and the struggles for sponsorship and for media recognition, despite it being New Zealand's most popular team sport.

Author Bio

Dr Lana McCarthy is a high-performance netball coach, and is currently working as a lecturer in teacher education at Charles Sturt University, Australia. This book draws on her doctoral thesis, which investigated the ways in which captains and coaches have constructed the culture of New Zealand's national netball team. She was formerly an assistant lecturer in the School of Sport, Exercise and Nutrition at Massey University, Palmerston North, where she taught physical education. Dr Andy Martin is a professor in the School of Sport, Exercise and Nutrition at Massey University, Palmerston North. He has been involved in a range of experiential learning projects in sport management education, physical education, and outdoor education. He is the lead author of Outdoor & Experiential Learning (2004). He is also co-author of Legends in Black with Geoff Watson and Tom Johnson (2014). Dr Geoff Watson is a senior lecturer in the School of Humanities at Massey University, Palmerston North, where he teaches history. He wrote Seasons of Honour: A centenary history of hockey in New Zealand 1902-2002 (2002), and, with Professor Greg Ryan, co-authored Sport and the New Zealanders: A history (2018).