KEY POINTS:
After masterminding the resurrection of English netball, former Silver Ferns coach Lyn Gunson is back and keen to address the skill shortage among New Zealand players.
Gunson, formerly Lyn Parker back in her playing and coaching days in New Zealand, has taken up a role as netball director for Netball North Harbour. It comes after she spent eight years in England where she was in charge of various national and regional development programmes, as well as coaching the Under-21 side.
The standard of New Zealand netball has been a hot topic since the arrival of the new transtasman league. Newly-appointed Silver Ferns assistant coach Waimarama Taumaunu believes that the ANZ Championship has exposed a lack of skills among New Zealand players.
Gunson agrees. "There's a big skill shortage - I totally agree with Wai," said Gunson, who has been back in New Zealand for three weeks.
"It's the range of skills and the depth of skills, so there certainly needs to be some work done at the regional level to try and improve that."
Which is where Gunson comes in.
Her main priority at Netball North Harbour will be to set up a performance centre which will cover not only the North Shore but the entire Northland region.
The former Silver Ferns skipper believes the new transtasman league and current domestic competitions will not necessarily produce international players, and other programmes are needed to push regional players to the international arena.
"What develops people in the game isn't just competition ... They also need other skill development which is related to international competition."
Gunson is no stranger to setting up netball development programmes of this magnitude. After heading to the UK in the late 90s to complete some doctorate work, she was talked in to helping her old mate, Taumaunu, who was assistant coach of the England national side at the time, with a new project.
It was supposed to be only for three months, but it grew, and Gunson soon found herself heading up the South West high-performance unit based at the University of Bath, which can be likened to the Australian Institute of Sport.
What started as a three-month proposition turned into eight years, but over that time Gunson also took over the reins of the England Under-21 side and talent development programme. She also had a stint as coach of the senior side at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
On her last day at the organisation, Gunson was made a life member of England Netball - an honour that came as surprise for the humble and unsuspecting coach.
"It was a major shock because in England netball, the life membership is a very revered kind of position and it has always been."
But to many other observers of English netball, the recognition Gunson received is just reward. She is widely credited as one of the key factors in the massive turnaround in the fortunes of English netball under her tutelage.
Having such an astute netball brain driving development programmes in the Northern region is a huge coup for Netball North Harbour and is likely to have a major impact on New Zealand netball as a whole.
It also begs the question, does Gunson have any aspirations to take up a coaching role here?
She said she has not thought about the prospect of coaching at top level again, but admitted she will miss the day-to-day contact with players.
"I literally haven't even thought about coaching again. This type of job is very exciting because there is a lot of change involved and the people are very excited by the possibilities that we have got."
