Cantabrian Marg Foster (Ngāi Tahu, Te Ātiawa) has done it all in netball.
The agile wing attack was a 16-test Silver Fern before moving into coaching and guiding the Canterbury Flames in the former domestic competition.
Foster has coached overseas, been a specialist midcourt coach for the Silver Ferns, while also running her successful Motivationz Netball programme since 2008.
Never short of an opinion, she speaks to Brendon Egan in this week’s ‘Where are they Now?’.
You played 16 tests between 1992-97, what do you remember most fondly?
I absolutely loved our tours. We toured the UK and just the absolute memories. When we were in Ireland we had our black dresses on like we were going to a function and the exhaust pipe fell off the back of our car.
We pulled over and we were ready to go to our function and this lovely group of Irish men stopped off and they thought we were nuns. They were praying and they fixed the car for us, it was just quite funny. All those wonderful memories of just so much fun that you had with your team.
What sticks out from your Silver Ferns debut?
My first test was here against Trinidad and Tobago [in Dunedin] and we thought we’d all start a knitting competition. So we all had wool and needles and I wasn’t a very good knitter.
I remember we stopped during the game because I had to change my shoes and I pulled [my knitting] out of the bag because I was giving my mum my knitting. Everybody just burst out laughing because it was so bad. That was a great debut, but a bit of fun.
You lost three national league finals to Robyn Broughton’s Southern Sting. How much does that grate?
We were hitting that amateur to professional era. It would be like Manchester United playing a local club team, in a nice way. They all got paid big money to be down there. What the Southern Sting created, I really take my hat off to the ILT [Invercargill Licensing Trust] down there. It was amazing. They had Bernice Mene, Tania Dalton flying in, Belinda Colling. Robyn Broughton she was a stunning coach as well. She was the real epitome of team cohesiveness.
Funniest thing you’ve witnessed on a netball court?
Vilimaina Davu, my Fijian [at the Flames] I really connected well with her. I said to her, Irene van Dyk, she’s never missed six goals in a game. I said to her, I bet you can’t get Irene to miss six goals or more.
She said, ‘What’s in it for me?’. At that stage I owned a premium steakhouse bar. I said, I’ll give you a free feed at the steakhouse, free steak. She said, ‘You’ll throw in a cocktail as well?’. I said yeah, yeah, yeah.
We were in the game and three quarters through the game Irene missed the sixth goal and honestly you’d have thought we won the game. She stopped three quarters through the game put her hand up and looked at me on the sideline, saying I won a free feed.
What inspired you to coach elite netball?
When I got dropped from the Silver Ferns, I just had this thing, I’d always been coaching since I was 13 years old. I just thought if I can’t beat them, I’m going to join them.
I took a real hotchpotch of every coach I ever had and mixed them together to make what was going to make me, but I had my own style. When I got into coaching through that adversity I look back now and think I was going to be a better coach than I was a player.
You’ve beaten breast cancer. What did you learn about yourself through those tough days?
When I got my cancer I was head coach and I was only making a difference with 12 athletes. My hairdresser at the time, Mike Hamel, said to me now you can work with thousands of people. You can be inspirational to more than just a team. I got my head around that. For me my lifestyle and the way I act, I let things go quicker, I master the moment. Love what you do and do what you love. If it doesn’t serve my soul I won’t do it.
How much of a kick do you get seeing young netballers thrive in your Motivationz programme?
It’s very, very rewarding. I’ve got amazing coaches as well. When I go into any of the programmes, whether it’s mentoring or netball, or our learn to swim school, being around young happy people it’s fantastic.
With the young ones it’s the fundamentals in a fun and dynamic environment. As they get older we really break it down. [This week] we’re doing specialist skill sets. It’s open and closed defence, hitting the circle edge, and understanding where you stand when you’re doing a boxed defence.
What rule would you ban from netball if you could?
That replay ball is a waste of time [when you lose control of the ball and pick it back up again]. Hey, how many rules do we want? We don’t want to be like rugby.
Should Netball NZ introduce Australia’s controversial two point ‘Super Shot’ into the ANZ Premiership?
I used to be a really traditional netballer, but I just kind of feel I watch the Australian netball more than I do New Zealand and I’m wondering why? I’m thinking because of the pace of it and the excitement.
If you’ve got an eight goal lead going into that last quarter you can still peg it back [with the two point shot]. In traditional netball, an eight goal lead, you can’t really — you’re pretty much toast.
Who’s the best netballer in the world right now?
[Jamaica goal shoot] Jhaniele Fowler, she’s phenomenal to be honest. She’s consistent and she’s got so much to her repertoire. I think maybe her. When Jamaica won their [bronze at last year’s World Cup], there’s no way without her in the team they’d win.
[Australian defender] Courtney Bruce — I love her energy.
You love travelling around the world. Where’s your No 1 holiday destination?
100% Vomo Island in Fiji. It’s just got everything. It feels like my happy place. The beach, the pool, the relaxation, the food, and most of all the people, the workers. The Fijian people that run it are amazing.