Netball: Wills to lead development squad

Kiri Wills will lead Netball NZ's new national development squad programme. Photo / NZPA

Former Northern Mystics assistant coach Kiri Wills will lead Netball NZ's new national development squad programme, encompassing the NZA and NZ under 21 teams.

Netball New Zealand today announced the appointment of Wills to the new role, which was created as part of the national body's new talent development strategy.

Netball NZ chief executive Hilary Poole says Wills will be a great addition to the High Performance team.

"We are thrilled to have Kiri join us at NNZ and we believe the skills she brings in the high performance coaching space will be a real asset to Netball New Zealand" she said.

"We are committed to developing our talented Netball coaches and Kiri is certainly one of those. We are excited to have her join the NNZ family."

Wills has impressive coaching pedigree and is currently in NNZ's Performance coach advance programme. In 2014, Wills coached Netball Northern Zone U23 team, was the caretaker coach of the NZU21 team and last year filled the role of Northern Mystics assistant coach under Ruth Aitken.

Wills will work closely with the newly appointed head of High Performance Steve Lancaster and Silver Ferns coach Waimarama Taumaunu in ensuring all players in the high performance programme receive a consistent approach to their development.