Heart, soul recognised

Vicky Lassen's devotion to sport off the court was also acknowledged by Garry Carnachan. Photo / Duncan Brown

For 30 years, Vicky Lassen has put her time, heart and soul - and even baking on occasions - into school netball.

The Napier Girls' High School teacher has coached, managed and umpired and along the way picked up a string of awards and accolades.

This week she picked up another at a special assembly when Garry Carnachan from the New Zealand Secondary Schools Sports Council presented her with a Service to School Sport Award.

Mr Carnachan said the award was presented to people who had made "exceptional" contributions to secondary school sport.

Ms Lassen said she did not pursue awards and recognition.

"But it is nice to be acknowledged - it is rewarding to see the students reach their potential at sport and at all levels."

Growing up on a rural property at Twyford, she said getting into netball was never in doubt and her mother was a "great player".

After playing the sport herself, she moved into coaching in 1985 and has continued her passion for the game since.

For the past 14 years she has been teacher in charge of netball at Napier Girls' High School and also carried out a stint at Woodford House for about eight years. She began umpiring the game when she was just 14, and two years later gained her New Zealand Umpires Theoretical Examination. Since the early years, she has umpired a couple of games every Saturday in the netball season.

Ms Lassen has been Hawke's Bay U21 and U18 coach and produced coaching manuals which have been distributed throughout the region.

Her devotion to sport off the court was also acknowledged by Mr Carnachan, who reeled off a string of surf life-saving awards and activities in which she had long been involved.

She said her philosophy was simple: "I just want all teams to enjoy the sport."

At times they get to enjoy her cooking, too, and her muffin-making ability is well known.

She will often arrive at Friday training at the school with lemon muffins for the players.

"Their eyes always light up when they see me arrive with them," she said with a laugh.