Netball: Ferns legend's Bay 'escape'

Former Silver Ferns captain Sandra Edge says unity in Hawke's Bay is great for the development for netball. Photo / Glenn Taylor

Sandra Edge found herself in academic and social wilderness in her four years as a teenager in Hawke's Bay but sport was a great leveller.

"The academic side was a bit of a struggle, the social side was a bit of a struggle so every side was a bit of a struggle except sport.

"I was in my element in sport," says the former Silver Ferns captain who recalls Iona College teacher Miss MA (Anne) Cato, who "rocked the PE department" during her high school stint in Havelock North from 1975-78.

Edge, a part-time Central Netball development officer living in Wellington with ex-All White captain/husband Rodger Gray, was here at the weekend to scout for talent and hold coaching workshops with Hawke's Bay Netball.

Edge, who turns 52 on August 26, fondly recalls her time at the Bay college, having attended a school reunion here in March when she took some stick from her former classmates for her inability to correctly recall her years of attendance at Iona.

"I was very young and came as a 12-year-old from Tokomaru Bay so it was all a bit of a shock," says the mother of Christian, 17, and Jeremy, 15, who both play football in the capital.

For Edge, there was lots on offer at Iona and she had a go at everything.

Netball was there but she isn't sure if it was her "first love".

"I didn't make any rep teams when I was here," says Edge who played for the school's junior team in winter at the courts in Hastings.

"We had all those mean ladies who used to knock us around quite a bit with those older netball club teams," she says with a laugh.

She excelled as an age-group tennis representative.

"I had a wonderful coach in Earle Denford," she reveals, suspecting he still lives in Napier.

She feels it was a combination of Cato (netball) and Denford (tennis) that provided a core foundation for her sporting prowess.

"That tennis really enhanced my netball. I've never thanked him but Earle's had a lot to do with those short, sharp movements."

She started as a defender but as she got older she gravitated towards the middle, evolving into a formidable centre.

Her boarding experience at Iona also helped immensely in coping with Silver Fern tours.

"It was a sense of independence and having to get on with others."

On reflection, Edge reveals she didn't have a template.

"I never had goals. I didn't really have a plan," she says, still harbouring a tinge of regret.

"I think it's reflective of the time of where you are in your life and you look by now and think ... mmm ...

"I was never ambitious, I just loved netball," she says.

She loves the '80s and doesn't feel she came a generation too early with the advent of professionalism.

"I love my mates. I enjoy the grassroots and people and just love the sport. Sometimes even as a coach I think, 'Gosh, I should be more demanding' but I simply want kids to improve and have fun with their mates."

She never saw herself as a great player but simply a cog in the wheel in a team environment.

The public persona of a perceived sense of her "greatness" in the code she simply attributes to her coaches.

"Selection into the New Zealand team was obviously because of my ability but I just fit in with other good players."

Edge captained the NZ Under-21 team in 1982 at the age of 17.

She made her Silver Ferns debut against Australia in Melbourne in 1985.

A decade later she had a record 94 caps for her country, including three world championships, and was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.

Under captain Leigh Gibbs, Edge became a world champion in 1987 in Scotland as coaches and scribes voted her the best centre in the world.

In 1999, she was named the centre of the "Dream Team" to recognise New Zealand Netball's 75th anniversary.

The former international, who was made an MBE in the Queen's Birthday honours on retirement in 1995, treasures the rapport she has had with Australian and Caribbean players in her active career.

After four years in the capital, she has coached the Wellington Under-19s and is finding traction in the upper echelons of the code.

"I've been a little involved with the Silver Ferns in the midcourt area.

"At the more elite level you are just tweaking that little bit which could make a significant difference."

The nationals and ANZ transtasman Championship levels beckon.

"The [Central] Pulse are close to home so, again, working in that high performance environment is good."

She lauded HB Netball operations manager Tina Arlidge and chairwoman Heidi Oliver who received Bay Awards in May for their club performance.