SILVER Ferns coach Waimarama Taumaunu’s leadership style and a lack of team culture has come under scrutiny following a review into the Silver Ferns’ dismal 2014 season.
The New Zealand side’s international season, the lowlights of which included a difficult, injury-ridden Commonwealth Games campaign and 4-0 series loss to Australia in the Constellation Cup, was the subject of an independent review last month as Netball NZ seek to address the team’s failings ahead of next year’s World Cup. The Silver Ferns have lost nine straight games to the Diamonds —— several of those by large margins —— and more worryingly, have not beaten their Australian rivals without Irene van Dyk in the shooting circle since February 1999.
The review took in feedback from Ferns players, coaches, management and support staff, with much of the report focusing on areas that have been publicly identified —— a lack of experience in the shooting end along with the need for the team to be better conditioned for a tournament campaign and more focus on mental skills.
But most revealing were the issues raised by the New Zealand netball players’ association (NZNPA). The Herald understands some of the feedback from the players has been toned down in the final document, but the report is still critical of the limited role players have in decision making, the focus on individual statistics rather than team culture and the absence of any team-building initiatives.
NZNPA executive manager Steph Bond said the chief concern of the players was that their voices were not being heard in the team environment, with Taumaunu and assistant coach Vicki Wilson taking a dictatorial approach.
Concerns were also raised in the review that the team had lost a sense of “spirit and connectedness”, with too much emphasis placed in camp on training longer and harder and no thought given to building team unity. One of the strengths of Taumaunu’s predecessor Ruth Aitken was her openness to outside ideas and her ability to empower the players to take the lead in running the campaign.
n Source: NEW ZEALAND HERALD
