Magic coach Taurua ponders flight to NSW Swifts
Noeline Taurua says she will ‘‘investigate’’ the option of becoming the New South Wales Swifts coach in next year’s trans-Tasman league.
But the former Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic mentor believes it would be tough to break into the Aussie ranks, and that she could even find it too tough to coach against her former players.
This week, former Australian international Lisa Beehag resigned from the Swifts position, having been in charge for two unfruitful years.
The timing could not be better for Taurua, whose 11-year tenure at the Magic ended last Sunday in the minor semifinal, the Magic’s earliest exit from the championship.
‘‘I will investigate that option,’’ Taurua said of the Swifts position.
‘‘But the thing about New South Wales is they’ve got a fantastic academy over there, and a lot of the coaches have come through the academy as players, so they’re very staunch in regards to their pathways.’’
But Taurua admitted she could not afford to be closed off to anything and so far nothing had been put in front of her, with international sides already in preparation for next year’s Commonwealth Games and the following year’s world champs.
A major consideration of the Swifts job would be the fact she would be coaching against players she has nurtured.
The time spent with Irene van Dyk, Laura Langman and Casey Kopua, and those players’ loyalty in always coming back to Taurua, will be a big consideration for her, though she could take one of them as a Swifts import.
‘‘To be honest, I think sometimes I say things to a lot of people but when it comes into reality, I become a bit of a chicken,’’ Taurua said. ‘‘So it would take a lot.’’ However, the international experience Taurua would gain in a new environment would stand her in fine stead for the Silver Ferns head coaching role, which she is keen to apply for in two or six years – ‘‘depending on what [current
Retiring Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic coach Noeline Taurua and key player Laura Langman after Sunday’s loss to the Queensland Firebirds. coach] Wai [Taumaunu] wants to do’’.
Taurua is considering setting up an academy, as she sees a gap in the market, but is also thinking about a job in marketing or the corporate sector, and is looking at business interests in property.
‘‘It’s a blank canvas, it’s exciting, but very daunting at the same time,’’ she said. Shortly, Taurua will start a twoyear online masters of science and per- formance coaching through Scotland’s University of Stirling, which will give her a level four British coaching qualification, for which there is no equivalent here. That will extend her repertoire in the theory behind coaching decisions, which she said would complement her natural gut-instinct style.