Te Puke High School teacher Tayla Toma, fourth from the right, with the rest of the New Zealand mixed netball team and support staff.
Te Puke High School teacher Tayla Toma, fourth from the right, with the rest of the New Zealand mixed netball team and support staff.
Could mixed netball be the next sport to catch the imagination of the New Zealand public?
Te Puke High School teacher Tayla Toma certainly believes, and hopes, it can be.
Tayla was a member of the New Zealand mixed netball team that recently had a 3-0 win in a transtasman series — gaining revenge for a 2-1 series loss the last time the teams played one another, pre-Covid, in Adelaide.
“This was the first year it’s been played in Auckland and it was really cool, we had heaps of media which was good for once, and good crowds.”
The games were played as part of a series of transtasman encounters with New Zealand open age, Under-23 and Under-20 men’s teams also taking on Australia in the Trans Tasman Cup at the same time as the Silver Ferns’ Constellation Cup series.
Selections for the national side were made at the mixed nationals, where she was playing for Waikato.
There wasn’t a lot of preparation time for the transtasman series.
“It’s all still self-funded, and it was hard to get everyone in one spot before that, so we just did a few days in camp before actually starting — which actually worked out well, obviously, because we just worked on culture and building whanaungatanga [close connections] those first few days.
“There were a few players in there I hadn’t played with before, which was again really exciting.”
The first game was won in regular time, 51-46, with tests two and three both going into overtime — New Zealand winning the second game 56-51, and the third 68-60.
Tayla Toma with her whānau at the Trans Tasman Cup.
“I enjoyed myself, and it was awesome just to have another experience out there and to play in New Zealand. I had a lot of my whānau come up and watch, which last time they couldn’t, and it was the first time my husband [Te Ahia Toma] watched me in real life, so it was cool to have him there.”
Tayla says the exposure from the tournament felt like a step up from the last transtasman series, and said the mixed and men’s games were getting more recognition.
She says that is reflected in the growing number of men’s and mixed netball competitions across the country.
“The pathway now is amazing, there’s really cool opportunities and the people that you meet are unbelievable — it’s a different culture with mixed, there’s heaps of different personalities.”
The growth is reflected in the high school, with mixed netball becoming more popular.
“We run a netball programme here in the PE department, and the amount of boys that are opting to play netball is amazing. There are basketballers, rugby players - all natural athletes, and they are just loving it.”
The Year 11 programme culminates in an end-of-term mixed netball tournament.
“They have to learn the skills, come up with drills and specific training throughout the term, then at the end of term play in the tournament. They get assessed on their skill as well as teamwork and interpersonal skills and stuff like that. The kids love it.
“It’s gone from, ‘Oh, are you playing netball and you’re a boy?’, to, ‘I want to play netball’.”
Tayla says being in the environment of mixed and men’s netball and seeing the impact having male role models in the game can have has been inspiring for her, and she has been able to bring some of that back to the school.
“I think there’s such a niche for it, and we can keep bringing these kids in — that’s what I love about it, especially now when we’ve got kids experiencing things and struggling with identity and all the things I see at school... then I see the men in our team, and they are so loud and flamboyant, and I think, how cool is that? To see them in the media and in the spotlight, just them being their true selves, playing men’s netball and being absolute beasts at it - I just think that’s so cool.”
