Kupa wins coach of the year title
Central Hawke’s Bay’s Annemarie Kupa has received the coach of the year accolade at the Hawke’s Bay Netball endof-season awards.
Kupa said it was a boom season for her Napier Girls’ High School side whose black, white and under-15 sides’ players claimed the MVP awards.
Kupa received the award last Thursday from HB Netball life member Isobel Taylor last Thursday.
“We’ve got a strong team but they’ve been building for the last two to three years,” said Kupa, who suspected she had won her maiden Bay coaching award after etching her name on the Central HB awards.
NGHS Senior A, third at the Lower North Island Secondary School Tournament, are off to the Pita Pit NZSS nationals in Timaru, from October 9-12.
They were missing players in the Lower NI semifinal due to a clash with basketball nationals but they beat top seeds Wellington East Girls’, boasting Pulse player Tiana Metarau, for third place. Valentine Kahukura, Jaime Tapine, Parris Petera and Melika Samia were named in the A tourney side.
It pleased the explayer/coach of former O¯ tane Thirsty Whale that NGHS defender Kahukura also was called for the Waikato Beko trials to make the under-21 training squad.
Former NGHS player Jadyi Taylor-Chaffey, who represented the Waikato/ BOP this season and had returned to play a couple of times for O¯ tane, claimed the senior player of the year award.
“She’s another exciting player who’ll be one to watch,” said Kupa, who coached Taylor-Chaffey in the previous two seasons before she moved to university.
Nurturing youngsters to where they have the tenacity to claim ownership in their respective positions on the court is Kupa’s coaching philosophy.
“Trying to push through the mental toughness as a player is what it’s all about in the big tournaments,” she said. HB Netball operations manager Tina Arlidge was delighted with a sold-out function as well as the calibre of nominations.
“We now have players at all levels of the game and it is only a matter of time before we break through to the top, with Kimiora Poi recently being selected in the Silver Ferns’ development squad, Ellie Bird playing ANZ Premiership Netball for the [Mainland] Tactix, Kelsey McPhee signed up for [Waikato/BOP] in 2019 and now multiple trialist for the Beko League,” said Arlidge, after McPhee and Netball Central Zone CEO Fran Scholey attended as special guests.
“This is a huge achievement for an organisation that is only six years old, as there was nobody when we began,” she said. “In fact netball was not even Kimiora Poi’s first choice of sport.”
Kenzie Turnbull was named Napier Sailing Club bench official of the year. Volunteer of the year award went to HB Netball board member Dionne Thomas, a member since its inception in 2012. Thomas also has served as an umpire and mentor.