Bernice Papasina Mene (born 18 January 1975) is a former

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

player. Mene represented New Zealand in netball for the

Silver Ferns The New Zealand national netball team, commonly known as the Silver Ferns, represent New Zealand in international netball. The team take their nickname from the Silver Tree Fern (''Cyathea dealbata''), which is National symbols of New Zealand, ...

for 10 years, playing 78 tests. She captained the domestic team the

Southern Sting The Southern Sting were a netball team based in Invercargill, New Zealand that competed in the National Bank Cup competition, formerly known as the Coca-Cola Cup. The Southern Sting team won the National Bank Cup seven times and are the only tea ...

from 1998 to 2003, with the team winning the

National Bank Cup The National Bank Cup was the pre-eminent national netball competition in New Zealand between 1998 and 2007. From 2008, it was replaced by the ANZ Championship. Format In the rounds, each team played every other team once, then the top four teams ...

each year she captained except for 1998. Mene is a qualified teacher. She made a guest appearance on episode 3.5 of the New Zealand cartoon

Bro'Town ''bro'Town'' is a New Zealand adult animated comedy television series and sitcom that ran from 2004 to 2009. It starred David Fane, Mario Gaoa, Shimpal Lelisi and Oscar Kightley. Overview The main characters in the series are five 14 year o ...

. Mene has been a Sky TV commentator for Sky Sport 1's live netball coverage of the

ANZ Championship The ANZ Championship, also known as the Trans-Tasman Netball League, is a former netball league featuring teams from both Australia and New Zealand. Between 2008 and 2016, it was the top-level league in both countries. The competition was owned ...

along with former

(

Tania Dalton Tania Mary Dalton (née Nicholson; 26 November 1971 – 1 March 2017) was a New Zealand international netball player. After retiring from playing professionally, she worked as a netball commentator on SKY Sports for international tests, the ANZ ...

Anna Stanley Anna Catherine Stanley ( née Rowberry, born 31 March 1976 in Christchurch, New Zealand) is a New Zealand netballer, who captained the national team (the Silver Ferns), to win the 2003 Netball World Championships in Jamaica. She led the Silv ...

) and Australian netball players (

Natalie Avellino Natalie Ann Allison Avellino (born 15 December 1970) is a retired Australian netballer, and former assistant coach of the Southern Steel netball team in the ANZ Championship. She made the Australia national netball team from 1994–1995 and again f ...

and

Kathryn Harby-Williams Kathryn Harby-Williams (born 16 July 1969) is an Australian netball player and television presenter. She captained the Australian netball team. Harby-Williams currently works with Radio Sport New Zealand and is a Sky TV commentator for Sky S ...

). In the

2003 New Year Honours The 2003 New Year's Honours List is one of the annual New Year Honours, a part of the British monarch's honours system, where 1 January is marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of ot ...

, Mene was appointed a

Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ren ...

, for services to netball. She is married to former New Zealand cricketer

Dion Nash Dion Joseph Nash (born 20 November 1971) is a New Zealand entrepreneur and former cricketer. He played for the New Zealand cricket team, captaining the team in 1999 with the injury of regular captain Stephen Fleming. Nash was a right-arm fast m ...

. Together they have three children. Mene is the daughter of former decathlete Mene Mene and former javelin and discus thrower

Sally Mene Sally Ann Mene (née Flynn) is a former discus and javelin thrower from New Zealand. Sally competed in both the 1970 British Commonwealth Games and the 1974 British Commonwealth Games. Sally Flynn married Mene Mene, a decathlete, in 1970 and th ...

(née Flynn).

References

1975 births Living people New Zealand netball players New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit Commonwealth Games silver medallists for New Zealand Commonwealth Games medallists in netball Netball players at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Netball players at the 1993 World Games New Zealand netball commentators 1995 World Netball Championships players 1999 World Netball Championships players Southern Sting players Medallists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games {{NewZealand-netball-bio-stub