Netball: Pulse coach lured from school court

Tanya Dearns checks out one of the Central Pulse team's training venues in the capital yesterday. Photo / Supplied

It's going to be a huge step from a Taradale Intermediate School Year 7 team to the head coaching role at Central Pulse in the ANZ Netball Championship, but Tanya Dearns is ready.

In fact, the Hawke's Bay-based Dearns, who is this year coaching her daughter Kyra's school team, is already talking about changing the attitude within the Pulse franchise when she leaves her Hawks Basketball general manager's job to start her Pulse one-year deal in August. She will replace the outgoing Robyn Broughton.

"When I was interviewed for the Pulse job I told them it was about me coming in with some fresh eyes. I want to get our mojo back, I want to make sure we've got a good product with robust systems in place," Dearns said after Pulse and Netball Central Zone chief executive Carolyn Young announced her appointment yesterday.

"Rather than look at our results of the past eight years let's look forward to the future. Being in the 'now' will be our new mantra," Dearns stressed.

A Silver Ferns defender between 1990-93 and 1996-99, Dearns, 48, has spent more than 20 years coaching high performance netballers and is also an acclaimed sports administrator. In 2013 she was the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic team's assistant coach and after her first season running Hawks Basketball last year, she won the National Basketball League's Administrator of the Year award.

Her daughter's team isn't the only side Dearns has mentored this year and she believed recent international experience will be invaluable in her new role.

"I've certainly not been in a netball wilderness, and have recently helped to prepare the Scottish national squad for their recent international games including the European Cup campaign and also undertaken high performance coaching in New Zealand and overseas."

A mother of two and wife of Hawke's Bay Magpies rugby team's fitness trainer Grant Dearns, she will commute to Wellington from her Taradale home when working for the Pulse. One of her goals is to have four training sessions each week next season and she wants the entire Pulse squad to be within the Pulse region for at least four months a year.

This year the squad only trained three times per week and players were flying in from outside of the region. While Iona College product and former Silver Ferns midcourter Sandra Edge is rumoured to be a candidate, Dearns said she had yet to confirm fellow members of her coaching staff.

A former Hawke's Bay basketball rep and Napier Golf Club general manager, Dearns has also worked as a television commentator, motivational speaker, events manager and political advisor in roles which all centred around elite sport.

Young was thrilled to have secured the services of a coach with such a wide range of experience and skills.

"The modern sporting world necessitates an understanding and appreciation of the whole sporting picture and Tanya's skillset is exactly what we are looking for," she said.

"Our objective is to win the ANZ Championship in 2018 and we will be giving Tanya latitude to build a winning team in that timeframe. Winning the Championship next year will obviously be on her wish list, however from an organisation perspective we know that it takes time to build success. We want to take what we have learned over the last seven years and build a long-term high performance programme that will provide sustained success in the ANZ Championship."

Silver Ferns defender Katrina Grant confirmed yesterday she will return for a seventh season with the Pulse next year.

"Although Robyn will be a hard act to follow, I'm really looking forward to working with Tanya next season. She has a great deal of experience as both player and a coach and I'm sure she will bring a new outlook to the team."