Nicole Lloyd is just 21, is a player, coach, Chairperson of the Netball New Zealand Youth Advisory Group and has just been announced as one of six coaches in Netball Mainland’s Emerging Talent Squad.
Nicole first started playing netball back at Thorrington Primary School as an 8 year old, and has had a passion for the game ever since. Apart from a ruptured achilles in 2012, she has played every year. This year she will again line up for the Technical Netball Club, now coming up to nine years with the Club.
Nicole started coaching when she was just 15 and has since found a passion for helping players achieve and grow, individually as well as a team. She has coached a number of Junior teams at St Margaret's and Burnside High School. With support from Netball Mainland, Nicole will have the opportunity to further her knowledge and has also applied for a Netball New Zealand Performance Coach Award Programme, which provides a pathway for coaching representative teams.
As Chairperson of the Netball New Zealand Youth Advisory Group, and with Cantabrian Stacey Hopwood as ViceChairperson, Canterbury is well representated as the voice of youth on netball in New Zealand. The group of 10 youth representatives has been brought together to give a youth perspective on issues in the game, and to discuss topics relevant to each of the netball communities they represent.
‘I'm really excited to see where netball goes in the coming years, both as a region and country, as I think NNZ and Mainland Netball are being very proactive in their approaches to how we can improve the quality of netball played. ... I think we are doing great work with not only the development of our young players, but also looking at our umpires and coach development, to make the overall game of netball much better in the future.’, she said.
Despite her involvement in netball, Nicole still finds the time to study towards a Primary School Teaching Diploma at the NZ Graduate School of Education in Christchurch.