Well travelled Taurua nearing the end of her journey
Press Release July 3, 2013
Success has featured prominently but it won’t be Noeline Taurua’s enduring memory when her time with the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic netball community finally comes to an end.
With the defending champions exiting in disappointing fashion in last week’s minor semi-final against the Queensland Firebirds, that time is fast approaching for long-serving coach Taurua whose 11-year tenure with Kia
Magic will finish at the end of August.
There was a strong desire from within this year for Kia Magic to become the first team to successfully defend the title after their drama-laden winning exploits of 2012. But despite having a similar playing roster, Kia Magic could not reproduce the levels of the previous year and Taurua’s time on the sidelines was over.
``Now that our season has finished, I did get engulfed by a lot of emotion,’’ she said.
``The biggest impact for me is that I’m going to miss the girls and miss their next stage in life and just not being involved is going to be huge for me.
``It’s not only the girls but there’s a lot of people that have been involved with Magic during my time here and I’m going to miss them all dearly.’’
Having been involved since the inception of the ANZ Championship in 2008, the standout feature for Taurua has been the continuing lift in standards.
``Every year, the pressures, the expectations and the profile of the competition has risen,’’ she said.
``The game has evolved over that six year period, there’s more physicality and more competitiveness out on court. It has made for a fantastic competition where it has usually taken until the last week before you know who is in the top four.’’
That continuing evolvement has heaped the pressure on both coaches and players to dig deeper. And during that time, Taurua’s constant drive has been to better herself as a coach.
Highly regarded for her innovation and creative thinking, Taurua has regularly reinvented herself and taken her loyal band of disciples on a range of adventures that have fallen between the weird and the wonderful. Challenging the inner resolve of her players and herself have all played their part in shaping Magic during her time.
Some of her team building exercises have included climbing mountains, paddling down the Whanganui River, camping in the wilds, walking through the night in unfamiliar terrain, and gaining spiritual guidance from a monk.
In her own personal crusades, Tuarua has forked out large sums of money to attend a series of speeches presented by high profile corporate leaders, including former US President Bill Clinton, attending several camps with sevens coaching guru Gordon Tietjens and visiting South Korea to spend time with and learning from the national women’s handball coach, all in the quest of being better.
``Every year it’s been about something different and something new…..it’s like adding different ingredients to a final recipe,’’ she said. ``Sometimes it doesn’t click until a year two later or it’s just looking for that next ingredient.
``Everything that we have done has helped us to be who we are as the Magic brand and the Magic product and being successful in our own right. It’s been many years of trial and tribulation and putting ourselves through the hoop and that has drawn us that little bit closer each year.
``It’s always about finding what that competitive edge is going to be and I think that’s a never ending process. After winning the title last year, the next step was to be better still. You want to remain No 1 and put the best product out for every game.
``One of the strengths of Magic is we’ve always had a stable group of people and players involved over a very long time, so to be different every year keeps things fresh for them and yourself.’’
It hasn’t all been plain sailing but Taurua said that is the nature of sport. Sometimes you simply get beaten by a better team but when everything does fall into place, and sometimes those moments are rare, there is no better feeling.
``I have enjoyed every moment of it,’’ she said. ``When you have that perfect product out on court, where everyone is in the zone and contributing whether it’s on or off the court, our product has been unbelievable and that’s the reward.
``You’ve got to go through the good and the bad and work really hard to get to that point but it’s all worth it when you see that out on court and it does happen.
``That’s what my job is and I love it.’’
Winning last year’s title has been Taurua’s defining highlight, the 12-week thrilling run of just getting her team, against all odds, to the grand final sweeter than lifting the trophy itself.
``It was more the journey we went through and the big learning that we went through during that year,’’ she said. ``We got the monkey off our back but it was how close it brought us together as a team, that was huge and amazing to be part of.
``Because we’ve got a lot of people that have been part of Magic for a very long time, we were like a family, so we’ve all seen each other grow and develop over that time and that’s special.
``It’s not only about players, it’s about people and belonging to that brand was incredibly special.’’
Innovative and creative during her own playing career, the former Silver Fern is still playing social netball at 45 years of age, the sport and its people never far from hand.
``It’s part of my make-up,’’ she said. ``I’ve been involved since I was nine years old, so it will also be part of me no matter where I go or what I do and the interest will always be there.’’
Jane Hunt
Kia Magic media liaison
Ph: 021-107-0287
