When premier Netball coach Geni Ah Tong is asked, how on earth her Technical Netball Club ‘A’ side took home the Premier 1 title in 2023, she admits the answer started on the job, far away from the court and within the walls of Sport Canterbury.

Sport Canterbury is well known for its commitment to bringing out the best in people, within their own team and wider communities. According to Geni, when her long-suffering Technical Netball Club ‘A’ side turned their season around to take home the coveted Premier 1 title, that commitment paid dividends.

“No one would have picked Technical Netball Club ‘A’ team to win the Premier 1 competition in 2023,” Geni recalls.

As part of Sport Canterbury’s management group, Geni benefitted from the investment that Chief Executive, Julyan Falloon, continues to make in the team’s leadership capability. 

“I had started doubting my capabilities as a coach,” Geni recalls. Her Technical Netball Club ‘A’ side had only won a single game in the first half of the season, barely scraping by through promotion/relegation. “At the same time, I started seeing a leadership coach as part of Sport Canterbury’s professional development. The things we focused on in the workplace were transferable to my coaching”.

Geni says she had to ask herself: “How do I lead myself before I lead others?"

“I was working so hard on myself as a person in order to be a better leader. My staff commented on seeing notable changes in my leadership, as the manager of Healthy Families Ōtautahi team. The Technical Netball Club ‘A’ team made comments about how much change I had made throughout the season.” 

Geni insists that the Technical Netball Club ‘A’ team’s title can be traced back to the work she was doing with her leadership coach, Di Foster. 

“One of the contributing factors to our team’s success is because of the work I was doing with Di, to embed good practices of leadership and changing habits that disinhibit good leadership”. 

Their goal, Geni admits, was simply to make the top four. “We never once talked about making the final. We just focused on our performance and process goals and the areas we needed to refine. It was the first time in my coaching career that I never referred back to our overall goal. That was a powerful learning experience for me”.

Following the win in 2023, Geni’s name has become synonymous with Technical Netball Club. Her resume, however, reads like a trip around the Christchurch Netball world. After five years with the former Hearts Netball Club, Geni left Christchurch to finish off her degree at the University of Auckland. Upon her return, Geni landed at Kereru Netball Club for a memorable three-time championship run under Maxine Butler. She played in a magical era alongside Marg Foster, Vilimaina Davu and Sonya Butler, then tried to retire “again” before St Nicholas Netball Club had other ideas. Two years later, Geni headed to Melbourne as a new mum. 

When she returned to New Zealand, St Nicholas Netball Club suggested she should coach their U19 team. 

“That was when I started to love coaching,” she remembers. Geni started coaching Netball since she was a student at Marian College. However, it wasn’t until she retired from playing Netball that she found her passion for developing people. In her third year, she coached the St Nicholas Netball Club Premier 1 team which was “an incredible opportunity for growth and learning as a young coach to work alongside Tactix and National Netball League athletes”. Mark Drury who at the time was the head of athlete performance at the University of Canterbury (UC) then encouraged Geni to consider coaching the University of Canterbury Netball Club Senior 1 team with a goal to take them to Premier 2.

“It was history in the making for the club and the university; for the first time ever, UC made Premier 2. And the following year, we made Premier 1.” 

Although the accolades flowed, Geni knew something was missing.

“As a coach, you give so much to other people, to service their needs. I reflected on how much my daughter has grown and not being present as much as I would have liked”.

For Geni, the pandemic was a blessing in disguise. She spent time at home, focused on what was important, and happily committed to taking a break from coaching in 2021.

Then the Mainland National Netball League assistant coach role came up. The opportunity to coach alongside Julie Seymour proved too tempting to resist.

“Coaching alongside Jules revived my love for coaching,” Geni admits. “It was wonderful to witness Jules’s passion for coaching, which reignited my own sense of purpose and why I coach.”

The next pivotal phone call came from Brenda Bickerstaff, Technical Netball Club President, who was exploring opportunities for a new head coach for the ‘A’ team. At the time, Geni had no plans to coach a club team.

“The Technical Netball Club ‘A’ team’s performance had fallen short of its typical standards over the past two years”, Geni recalled. “I thrive on challenges and seized the opportunity to restore the team to its former glory”.

In 2022, the ‘A’ team made top four in the Premier 1 grade. However, in 2023 “we were faced with a new shooting frontline of young athletes and adjustments to the defensive end. We had lost all three shooters from the previous year. It was a transitional period for us which required me to lean on my assistant coach, Sandy Taylor, and the senior athletes for their guidance and support to nurture the development of the younger athletes”.
Geni sees the willingness of Charlotte Elley, Chloe Shea and Louise Thayer to mentor their peers was instrumental in the team’s revival.

After a tough first round, defeated in all except one game, Technical Netball Club ‘A’ team treated the second round as the “redemption round.” 

“We focused on team connections on and off the court. Todd Astle delivered mental skills sessions to support our athletes with tools to enhance their performance and overall wellbeing.”

“I started delegating more responsibilities to my assistant coach, as well as the leadership group. I trusted they could lead and succeed without too much of my guidance. And they did.”

Geni says the combination of these factors contributed to the winning outcome.

Even when there is a title to celebrate, however, Geni says that “coaching can be a lonely journey”, and having the right support network is key. She has learned to lean on her management team and senior athletes. She continues to trust the process and the people around her.