Netball star impressed with talent on show at coaching clinic in Rockhampton

Former Australian Diamonds’ star Sharni Norder shares her experience and knowledge with Rockhampton’s aspiring young netballers.

Former Australian netballer Sharni Norder (nee Layton) and RGS Magic coach Zoe’ Seibold at the weekend's coaching clinic.

Zoe’ Seibold is still “pinching herself” after coaching alongside one of her sporting idols, Sharni Norder (nee Layton).

Norder, who played 46 games for the Australian Diamonds and was a two-time International Player of the Year, ran coaching clinics for the Rockhampton Grammar School’s netball teams at the weekend.

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The 34-year-old was a member of the Australian World Championship winning teams in 2011 and 2015, and won a Commonwealth Games gold medal in 2014.

After her retirement from netball in 2018, she went on to play 23 games for Collingwood in the AFLW and was named in the 2020 AFL Women’s All-Australian team.

Her visit was co-ordinated by the RGS Netball Club to benefit all of Grammar’s secondary school netballers, from Year 7 to 12.

She was also the guest at a dinner on Saturday night, which provided another opportunity for the senior netballers to ask questions both about netball and finding the balance between various commitments in their life.

Former Australian netballer Sharni Norder (nee Layton) and RGS Magic coach Zoe’ Seibold at the weekend's coaching clinic.

Seibold is head coach of the school’s open team, RGS Magic, and was on court with Norder as she put the school’s top 20 players through their paces.

Seibold said it was “massive” for her players to be mentored by one of the game’s greats - and it was pretty special for her too.

“I’ve been pinching myself all morning,” she said in an exchange with Norder.

“I just keep thinking ‘Oh my God, you’re actually here and I’m having this opportunity to work with you, to learn from you, and you’re coaching my team’.

“Thank you so much for coming to a regional area. I appreciate you being here; it’s just been invaluable and I’m in complete awe right now.”

Seibold said she loved the way Norder played netball but was also inspired by her successful transition to Australian rules.

“Finding a passion and love and passion for AFL just shows there is life after netball and you can continue to grow and chase your dreams wherever they are,” she said.

Norder had some encouraging words for Seibold as well, saying she was impressed with the Grammar players’ skill levels, their game sense and the professionalism of the school’s netball program.

“What I hope they will take away from today is just the quality and what they need to train,” she said.

“Whilst they know what to do - and they can do it - I want them to do it better and more specifically.

“To be able to push off really strong, to be quicker than the other teams, to get their passing on point every time, to not drop the ball, to put really hard defence on and all of that stuff doesn’t require talent - it just requires hard work and work ethic, along with obviously the skill execution as well.

“I thought that they applied everything I asked them to do today but with a bit more fitness and a bit more drilling, I think they’ll be absolutely fantastic.”

Sharni Layton playing for the Australian Diamonds in October 2014. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

Norder, who is the head coach and program manager of netball at the Methodist Ladies’ College in Melbourne, said it was great to get back to the game’s grassroots.

“This is what I love about it - it’s about the learning, it’s about the journey, it’s about the friendships, it’s about the competition,” she said.

“If the one thing they take (out of this clinic) is hope - that they’ve been able to see someone who played at the top face-to-face and realise we’re not superhuman, we’re not anything special and if they work really hard, they can do it too.

“For me, it’s that goal realisation, that they can achieve their dreams means so much to me because that’s what happened to me when I was a young player. I saw someone at the top and I was like ‘Oh my God, I can do that’ so being that person for rural communities means a lot to me.”

Norder said her switch from netball to Aussie rules was challenging.

“There’s a lot of game plan that crosses over but skill-wise there’s no correlation at all between football and netball. It was a very hard transition,” she said.

Sharni Layton playing for the Collingwood Magpies in the AFLW semi-final against North Melbourne in 2020. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

“I did netball for 15 years and I wanted to challenge myself and to be not good at something.

“I was quite well known in netball at the time that I retired so to go from being one of the best at something to being one of the worst at something, it was fun, it was about putting my ego aside and working out what I could give to this team and I really took on more of a mentoring role.”

Norder said she learnt so much from her football stint and was grateful for the experience.

She is now making the most of her life post-professional sport.

“I work at the school and I’m still doing commentary for netball as well, riding horses, hanging out with my hubby - just life,” she said.

“That’s why you retire so you can spend more time at home. Nothing special but nothing special is very special when you haven’t been able to do it for a very long time.”