It's not so much the 30-year-old's diploma in health science, exercise and sport performance that makes her the ideal candidate for her new role but more so her life's experiences.
Growing up on a Hawke's Bay farming settlement, Rata was in harmony with nature.
"I was a tomboy, barefoot and everything," she reveals, fondly recalling her halcyon days on the family block at Otamauri, between Napier and Taihape Rd.
"I had two older brothers so I followed them everywhere and just kept annoying them," Rata says of their moments at the sheep/cattle farm of her parents, Christine and John Goulding.
Her mother was a runner so it didn't come as a surprise to anyone that a young Serena effortlessly covered kilometres around the expansive property without even realising she was building a template that could have paid dividends.
The pupil from the now defunct Waiwhare Primary School instinctively remained loyal to athletics all the way to Iona College.
In fact, the 15-year-old broke the record in the 70m hurdle event of the East Coast North Island Secondary Schools' Championship, which still stands today.
"Not everyone knows that," she says with a smile.
But it was her flirtation with netball in the "bad" junior C grade in her first year at high school that caught her somewhat unaware.
In her second year her athleticism and mental fortitude spurred her to rise to the ranks of senior A netballer.
"So I thought not bad."
But like most people who find themselves at the crossroads of finding a career, Rata immersed herself in studies.
Nothing wrong with that except she put netball and running on the backburner for too long.
"I should have carried on with it," she says when asked if she wonders what it would have been like to aspire towards becoming a semi-professional player in the ANZ Transtasman Championship or a Silver Fern.
Everything suggested Rata was on a well-trodden path to the higher echelons of netball.
The former Bay and Manawatu representative age-group defender went on to captain the Massey University A team.
In 2012, she represented the Women's New Zealand Indoor Netball team.
"I went from outdoor to indoor and was quite good at it so I progressed to the [week-long] world indoor championship in Brisbane."
Rata has returned home after living for 12 years in Palmerston North where she was recreation adviser at Sport Manawatu for five years.
Her former role embraced building a development and administrative rapport with groups, including clubs and schools.
Her new role here, which she started full-time last week after a two-week part-time involvement, includes creating a blueprint for developing grassroots players (5 years old) to performance level (up to Central Zone Under-23).
"I didn't find the job, the job found me," says Rata, who put her feelers out in the market before someone pointed her in the direction of HB Netball.
Junior co-ordinator Nicki Lugt will be at the coalface of the after-school junior programme on Thursdays.
Rep trials for Year 8 pupils, under-15s, under-15 development and under-17 players will also be held on April 12-13.
"The trials will be run properly with the right players in the right teams," Rata explains.
"We're not just looking for good footwork or ball skills.
"We're looking for allround players who have fitness, attitude and commitment."
HB Netball is mindful young players on the verge of higher honours often leave the region for tertiary education or to more challenging centres to pursue a playing career.
The organisation's operating manager, Tina Arlidge, says it will endeavour to work with the Eastern Institute of Technology on how to entice players to remain here but that is in the pipeline.
"New Zealand age-group potential players are welcome to go to Manawatu trials," Arlidge emphasises, adding HB Netball has no intentions of stifling player development.
It's three-year strategic plan hasn't factored in a Bay senior women's team but it is hoped that may change in five years.
A Super Club competition staged in Palmerston North three weeks ago also served a similar purpose for budding talent.
HB Netball, a revamped body amalgamating the different centres of the code, has no elite players in the Bay.
A second-year EIT student, Rhiarna Ferris, in her 20s, is its beacon of inspiration for youngsters.
Rata, who has officiated but not to a high level, will also help create a platform for volunteer umpire development by researching and identifying suitable workshops.
Bay defender Ferris attended Tu Toa high school in Palmerston North, which boasts a netball academy.
A returning Central Zone U23 member from last year, Ferris will be involved in development programmes with about 80 youngsters.
Arlidge says netball is the biggest secondary school participation sport in the Bay.
"We had 1200 players from high school last year and this year we have 1450."
Rata doesn't just want to accomplish goals in her new role.
"The region's got the best of everything and this role can be stronger.
"We want to open communication with the region and make Hawke's Bay Netball transparent."
In a nutshell, the code's regional body wants parents to know that if their daughters have the potential to be a Silver Fern or a professional player in the Transtasman Championship then it is developing the pathway to realising that potential.
