New faces for Taranaki netball

Netball Taranaki has taken on two new staff members.

Mairangi Tamati is Netball Taranaki’s new Central-South Development Officer and Karlena Schwass has been appointed Officials Development Officer.

One of the first bonuses for Tamati was seeing the impact of sending text messages with information to players. It was so effective 172 players turned up for a summer skills programme.

Schwass has been appointed Officials Development Officer as cover for Jaimie Te Pau Konui, who has taken maternity league.

The two new staff members have contrasting backgrounds in netball.

Schwass, who has been in Taranaki for 13 years, became involved through her daughter, who was playing at Highlands Intermediate. She then saw a need for new umpires and took up the whistle. She picked up her zone badge in 2016 and now umpires at premier grade.

Hamilton-born, Brixton-raised Tamati has been a leading young netballer and has featured in the New Zealand Under-21 squad, the New Zealand Under-19 Maori team and the New Zealand Secondary Schools team.

Most recently she has been in the Waikato playing premier grade club netball.

Schwass will be working to increase the number of qualified umpires in Taranaki and ensuring they are up to speed with rule changes and interpretations while Tamati, based at the TET Stadium in Stratford, is looking to increase the participation and representative opportunities in Central South Taranaki by supporting coach development.