Dual celebrations for netball player/coach

Nelson netballer Dayna Kerr completed a rare double at the club finals at Saxton Oval on Saturday.

Dayna coached Nayland College to a hard fought 37-32 win over Jacks Netball Club Black in the Senior 1, Section A final and then just half an hour later she took to the court herself for the NBS Premier final.

She turned out at goal defence for Prices Waimea Ahurei against Jacks Netball Club OPD.

“We hadn’t beaten them all season and so we knew we would have to go to another level in the final,” says Dayna, whose mother Mandy Whiting coaches Ahurei.
Dayna’s side had also lost last year’s final to OPD and it wasn’t close.

“I missed that one through pregnancy.”

And it looked like Ahurei was going to drop its bundle again after twice slipping five goals behind in a rugged final.

Dayna had her hands full marking the evergreen goal shoot Ani-Marie Waitai, who also doubles as Nelson Netball’s livewire general manager.

“She’s not the easiest to defend against,” noted Dayna, who pulled off one particularly memorable steal from Ani-Marie when the scores were locked at 38-all.

Just when OPD seemed certain to retain its title, Ahurei stormed home to win 49-47.

While that ensured double delight for Dayna, her star Nayland College goal shoot Ayla Dewson didn’t get to take the court again in the premier final.

She changed her playing kit to sit on the bench, but no substitutes were used.
And spare a thought for Ani-Marie as she MC’ed the official prize-giving after going so close to landing a trophy herself.

There is little rest for Dayna, as she has taken her Nayland College side to Christchurch for the South Island Secondary School Championships with up to 80 teams vying for honours.

And then to cap a hectic few weeks, the goal defence is then playing for the Nelson representative team at a tournament in Ashburton.