Coral Palmer was a

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 who represented her country on seven occasions, including in the 1971 world championships. She later became a netball coach.

Playing career

Coral Palmer was born on 13 July 1942. She played netball for

Rotorua Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompass ...

in the Centre court (C) position. She became the 50th player to represent the ''Silver Ferns'', the

New Zealand national netball team 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 an emblem for many New Zealand s ...

, first playing against

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

in November 1970, at the beginning of a long tour by the team that included the

1971 World Netball Championships The 1971 World Netball Championships was the third edition of the INF Netball World Cup, a quadrennial premier event in international netball. It was held in Kingston, Jamaica, and featured nine teams including the debut of the Bahamas. It began ...

, which were held in Kingston,

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

in January. Coached by Taini Jamison, the Silver Ferns were runners-up in the tournament, losing to Australia in a match that Palmer could not play in due to sickness.

Coaching career

Palmer later became a coach. She was a coach at

John Paul College, Rotorua John Paul College is a Catholic secondary school in Rotorua, New Zealand. The co-educational school caters for students in years 7 to 13. It was opened in 1987 and combined two existing schools, Edmund Rice College (for boys) and MacKillop Colleg ...

. Among the players she taught was Samantha Winders who first played for the ''Silver Ferns'' in 2017 and had played 44 games for the team by early 2021. In 2013, during Winders' time at the College, the school achieved its first appearance at the New Zealand Secondary Schools tournament, finishing in fifth place.

References

{{New Zealand squad at the 1971 World Netball Championships 1942 births Living people New Zealand international netball players New Zealand netball coaches 1971 World Netball Championships players New Zealand netball players