‘Good Sort’ is a net gain to Taupō
Julia Panoa receives her Good Sort Award from Mayor David Trewavas and Harcourts Taupō business owner Mary-Louise Johns. Photo: Dan Hutchinson
When people think of Taupō netball, Julia Panoa’s name is usually not far away.
By Dan Hutchinson
A coach and mentor for countless players, Julia is this month’s Harcourts Taupō Good Sort.
She was nominated by Sam Warriner who describes her as the “cornerstone of the netball community in Taupō,” who gives up countless hours to coach teams across all levels.
“Julia is not just a coach, but a mentor and role model. She brings a deep understanding of the game and a caring approach that helps every player reach their full potential.”
When Taupō News caught up with Julia, she had just arrived to receive her award, which came as a complete surprise.
Her own playing days were cut short by an injury in the early 2000’s, so she immediately switched to coaching the team she was playing for.
“And then I thought, Oh I could do a bit more, so I carried on coaching. I coached Tauhara Open A for nine years.”
She also runs netball club Leverage Netball, which started three years ago with one team, but has now grown to three teams.
She has also just recently received her 15-year service award and lifetime membership to the Taupō Netball Centre.
Despite having a busy fulltime job as business support coordinator for Mercury, she’s not planning to retire from coaching any time soon.
“This year I start my NZ performance coaching role.”
Her schedule for the rest of the year is pretty jam-packed.
“This year I'm doing year 7A Taupō Intermediate, year 8A Taupō Intermediate, Open A Tauhara College. I've just done the under-14s netball rep team.
“And then I've still got the rest of the season, plus my Leverage club, and then after the season finishes in five weeks, I've got a week away up in North Island Secondary Schools with the Tauhara Open A. I come back for two nights, and then I'm off to Aims Games.”
The coaching doesn’t stop when the local season ends because after the season's done, some players names get submitted or Waikato-Bay of Plenty talent scouts pick them for further advancement, with the Magic in the Making programme.
Once again, Julia is involved with keeping their fitness up.
“Heaps (of Taupō players) have gone through that. But it's the next level. After that, if they are successful and they are spotted … then they go to Advanced Magic in the Making.”
She’s also the coach developer for Taupō and has had about four come through the Netball New Zealand Coaching Award.
She says it’s the players that drive her and seeing them develop.
They have also brought males into the game with one male player allowed in each club team.
One of the shining stars of that programme locally is Thornton Stephens-Kingi who is now in the NZ Men’s team – the Net Blacks, which heads to Fiji for a tournament next month. He is also in the Mystics men’s team in Auckland and is a coach and player in the Leverage Club.