Will to Win

New Zealand netball greats on team culture and leadership

Andy Martin, Lana McCarthy, Geoff Watson

• Publisher: Massey University Press
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9780995135482
• Edition: 1

Insights and revelations from some of the legends of New Zealand netball. This book is 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 level. Legendary players and coaches — including Lois Muir, Leigh Gibbs, Bernice Mene, Ruth Aitken and Casey Kopua — 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 Will to Win offers a real insight into the psychology of a women's high-performance 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 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. 

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• Part 1. A love of netball
• Part 2. Nurturing and creating a team culture 1960–1987
• Part 3. Development, rebranding and commercialism 1988–2001
• Part 4. Growth and athlete-centred semi-professionalism 2002–2019
• Part 5. Legacy
• Major event statistics
• Notes
• About the contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Copyright