To call Kath Tetley a rookie when it comes to anything related to netball would be a stretch. In a decades-long career Tetley has become one of the game’s most respected administrators.
From starting out as a media manager for Netball Australia, to being instrumental in the growth and development of the Swifts as NSW’s most celebrated female sports team, to the establishment of GIANTS Netball and the running of the 2015 Netball World Cup, few could possibly know the game better.
However, while that was all off court, the Baulkham Hills product was quietly making her way through the NSW coaching pathway.
Tetley, who’s worn more hats in netball than most have had hot dinners, has flown under the radar in the world of high-performance, but now she’s got a serious resume to her name.
Not only did she lead GWS Fury to an U23s Origin Energy Premier League title in 2019, this year she was assistant coach to Amber Cross in the all-conquering NSW 17U team which claimed gold at the National Netball Championships in Tasmania.
That’s not a bad effort for a so-called rookie. Still, Tetley isn’t getting carried away.
“After two years as assistant coach of the NSW 17s team, with cancelled National Championships due to Covid in 2020 and 2021, this was technically my rookie year in 2022 and it was fantastic,” she says.
“I am so grateful for this life experience, to Netball NSW (special shout out to Margaret Hamley, Netball NSW GM Performance and Pathways) and importantly my head coach Amber Cross for the three years together and opportunities she has given me.
“Making memories with sensational humans is just the best. Whether it is a moment of success on court during a game for an athlete, or time spent around the dining table at night getting to know people… growing your netball family is just the best.”
Having been around the game for so long there are few who know the importance of the Nationals to the NSW netball community better than Tetley. It’s the huge number of NSW-born Australian Diamonds, Swifts and - more recently - GIANTS, who’ve come through the State Team pathway.
“How we behave, our values, showing complete professionalism, and living up to the legacy of the 500-plus Waratah women that have gone before us is everything,” she adds.
“At the start of the State Team journey the teams took time to understand the legacy of the NSW Waratah - where it all began with the Opens, then 21s, and later the introduction of the 19s and 17s tournaments in the 1980s.
“Every athlete in these teams is mindful of the netball legends that have gone before us and the 85-year history of the Nationals. We take the legacy of the National Championships seriously and take great pride in wearing the Waratah, because we know that it is a privilege.”
There may have been a weight of expectation on their young shoulders but the NSW 17s and 19s did their state proud in Hobart, banishing a monkey from their backs.
“To be honest I think most people were shocked and then super pumped to hear that we had won the double for the first time in 23 years,” Tetley says.
“It was not until the end of the Championship that people started asking questions about the legacy results and we pieced together that NSW last won both titles in 1999.
“The last 17s title was in 2012, ten years ago and the last 19s title was secured in 2015.”
History was made again in Tasmania but were it not for her pathway via the Premier League, Tetley may never have had the opportunity to excel.
“Premier League is a great part of the skills journey for State Team athletes and coaches as the support of their franchises, professional training structures and playing environments compliment the State program beautifully.
“My fellow Premier League coaches are sensational at supporting the State Team training schedule and their players, and I know that all of the coaches receive brilliant support from their own franchises when we need to balance the cross-over commitments of the State Team and Premier League schedules.
“For the athletes the high-performance behaviours, management systems, training structures, life balance and elite performance skills start in their Premier League environments and are then built upon in the State Team program, and watching the athletes learn the elite skills is really exciting.”
And while she may be a born-and-bred Aussie, it’s Tetley’s Celtic roots (she was born a Keenan – a family name hotly contested by the Irish and the Scots) that may see her coach up north one day.
“I really want to keep contributing to this great game as a coach as it has given me so much. I will just keep learning and see where the netball coaching pathway takes me.
“But if I had an ‘out-there wish’ I always tell my netty friends that my grandmother was a proud Scottish Highlander… so I keep hoping to get a surprise phone call from the Scottish Thistles to be a guest coach for a day maybe, ha ha.”
So, whether it’s courtside at Netball Central or by the “bonnie, bonnie banks” of Loch Lomond, Tetley’s going to be on the High Road.
