Former Diamond Sharni Norder reveals plan to boost her off-court career as a netball mentor

Upon her return to the Melbourne Vixens’ coaching line-up, ex-Diamonds captain, Sharni Norder reveals to REBECCA WILLIAMS how working for the national enemy re-sparked her passion for the game.

Sitting on the England Roses bench whilst plotting Australia’s downfall, former Diamonds captain Sharni Norder knew she had caught the coaching bug and recaptured the love for a sport she had lost upon retirement.

A defensive coach with the Melbourne Vixens for the past two years, Norder made waves in international netball last year when she linked with the old enemy as a specialist coach ahead of Australia’s home series against England last September.

“It was confronting if I am being honest,” Norder said of coaching against the Diamonds.

“I really enjoyed it and relished the opportunity to be able to coach at international level, I really love working with Vixens, but I’m not on the bench on game day, so I really enjoyed when I walked out – even though it was so funny walking out in front of an Australian crowd with England – it felt like home really being back on the court.

“The first game I was extremely nervous, not only because it was my first time coaching on the bench at international level, but there were a lot of nerves going on for a lot of reasons.

“But then the second and third game was fine, it was just a part of the job.

Former Diamonds defender Sharni Norder working with the Vixens as a specialist defensive coach. Picture: Michael Barker

“People were like ‘How do you coach against Australia?’ but international or top coaching jobs don’t come along very often.

“I know that this will not be a favourable comment but I am red through and through. I was so pumped for our girls when we won that second (Test). I have never been so happy to win and I never thought that I would be happy to win against Australia.

“But I don’t see the colours, I just see the girls that I am coaching and seeing them stand up and believe in themselves and put their best out there was one of the most heartwarming moments that I have ever had.”

Norder, who played 46 Tests for Australia, joined up with the Roses again as a specialist coach for the Netball Nations Cup in England in February.

She does not have any future plans locked in with England as yet, but said she would welcome the chance to help the Roses on the road to the 2027 World Cup in Sydney where the Diamonds will be defending their title.

Rivals on the court ➡️ Allies on the bench pic.twitter.com/oszrOCrr5i

— England Netball (@EnglandNetball) September 22, 2024

“If they reached out again, I would definitely take them up on that,” Norder said.

“If there was an opportunity to coach at a Comm Games or World Cup I do not take things like that lightly, I am always super honoured to be able to coach or do anything like that at that level.”

RECAPTURING THE LOVE

Norder will take another step in her coaching career when she takes charge of her first Victorian Netball League team with the Southern Saints’ 23 and under team this year.

The 37-year-old has laid the foundations for her growing coaching career working in private schools for the past five years and said her work as a mentor had helped her recapture her love for the sport, which had waned at the end of her playing career.

“I wasn’t really sure what direction my life was going after retiring to be honest,” Norder said.

“I enjoyed coaching, but in most women’s sports you don’t see how it can really be, I guess like a job, it’s kind of something that you have to do on top of working generally speaking.

“Hence why I was doing work at the private schools but figuring out what I wanted to do.

“Then after I got a call from England last year asking to be their specialist defence coach, I thought ‘Maybe I will put a bit more time into it and give it a crack’.

“I’m just happy to see where it takes me if I am being honest. I think that I kind of fell out of love with the sport a bit when I retired and needed a bit of space and time out.

“Working in schools just really gave me the love back, realising why you do it seeing the girls out there playing the sport every weekend.”

Norder said coaching at the grassroots level was helping shape her coaching philosophies.

“I was at MLC and we have over 400-450 girls playing netball on a Saturday at a time when there are so many teenagers dropping out of sport,” Norder said.

“It’s really cool to be a part of keeping them in sport … I lost that passion and forgot that along the way.

“We had some teams that wanted to be competitive and train really hard, but then there were a lot of girls that just wanted to do it and have fun.

“That just reminded me that I wished that I’d had a bit more fun when I was playing. I took it too seriously and I think that’s what I really bring to my coaching is making sure that, yes, you can work hard, but I really want them to enjoy it as well.”

Sharni Norder (nee Layton) in action for the Diamond against New Zealand in 2016. Picture: AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts

SUPER NETBALL AMBITIONS?

While she has relished her junior coaching and roles with the Vixens and Roses, Norder is unsure if she wants to make the leap to Super Netball head coach as yet.

“Maybe down the track, it is not a role that I would want to take on prematurely,” she said.

“You need to really know what you are doing in regards to not only coaching, but the high performance side as well …. they say high performance coaching is five per cent coaching and 95 per cent people management.

“I don’t know if I’m ready for that yet to be honest with you. I think if anyone could just walk in and coach there would be a lot more people doing it, or a lot more people wanting to do it.

“I’m so lucky in my specialist roles, I get to come in and I get to work with the head coach, I get to learn from them.

“I absolutely love learning from (Vixens coach) Simone (McKinnis), I had her as a coach in 2009 at the Australian Institute of Sport, so to be underneath her and learn from her and (Vixens assistant) Di Honey and also in England ranks Jess Thirlby and Anna Stembridge …. I am learning from all these coaches.

“I would say I am a fair way off being a head coach of a Super Netball team.”

Norder said she wouldn’t be afraid to shake things up as a head coach either.

“I am a bit of a – I don’t know if loose cannon is the right word – but I’ve always been a bit of a loud character,” Norder said.

Former Diamonds defender Sharni Norder in her role as a specialist defensive coach with the Melbourne Vixens. Pic: Michael Barker

“I would still just be myself. I look at coaches, not just in Australia, but across the world and they all …. keep their cool. Not that I wouldn’t keep my cool, but I’m not afraid to yell out and have a chat and show my personality as a coach either.

“I don’t know if that would be welcomed in the netball world because netball can be straight and narrow at times.

“But I would just be myself. That has always been my motto in life and I will just keep continuing to do that.”

VIXENS VIBE

The Vixens’ defenders have spoken highly of Norder’s contribution as a specialist defensive coach with the team and she has savoured work with their star-studded backline.

“To be honest when Simone first asked me I was so nervous because I actually played with Em (Mannix) and Jo (Weston),” Norder said.

“I was like, ‘Are they going to want to listen to me because I played with them?’.

“But then as soon as I got in there and could offer a different perspective, I think the joy of being able to coach at that level – especially with players of that calibre – is that you don’t need to teach them, they already know what they need to do.

“It’s just about having conversations and different ideas tactically around what we can do against different teams. It’s not me telling them what to do, but we collaborate together and I really enjoy that style of coaching.

“Just to see their work rate and their work ethic, they are so inspiring, honestly. They are the biggest work horses, they are so incredibly skilful and I could honestly just not even bother coaching and just sit there and watch them because of how good they are at what they do.”

Originally published as Former Diamond Sharni Norder reveals plan to boost her off-court career as a netball mentor