Mary Waya (born 25 May 1968) is a

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...

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 and coach. Waya started playing international-level netball at age 14, and has played in more than 200 representative matches for

. During that time she has competed in two

World Netball Championships The Netball World Cup is a quadrennial international netball world championship organised by the World Netball, inaugurated in 1963. Since its inception the competition has been dominated primarily by the Australia national netball team and t ...

(1995 and 2007), three

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the ex ...

(1998, 2006 and 2010), and two

World Netball Series The Fast5 Netball World Series is an international Fast5 netball competition that was contested for the first time in October 2009. The new competition features modified Fast5 rules, and has been likened to Twenty20 cricket and rugby sevens. Th ...

(2009 and 2010). Waya came to international prominence during the 2007 World Championships in New Zealand, where the Malawian national team (the "Queens") finished 5th, their highest ever placing. She announced her retirement after the tournament, but returned to international competition the following year. She remains the national team's most high-profile player, and was chosen as the flag bearer for the Malawi team at the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, f ...

in Delhi. After the

2010 World Series The 2010 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2010 season. The 106th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Texas Rangers and the Nat ...

in Liverpool, Waya again announced her retirement from international netball, along with Queens veterans Peace Chawinga-Kalua and Esther Nkhoma. She turned her attention to coaching, and later that year stepped into the role of head coach of the Malawi U-20 netball team. The Netball Association of Malawi (NAM) held negotiations with the three retired players to try to convince them to return to the Queens. On 15 June 2011, the NAM announced that Waya had agreed to return to the national team, along with Queens veterans Esther Nkhoma and Sylvia Mtetemela; Peace Chawinga-Kalua had earlier signed as assistant coach for the team. Media reports in Malawi indicated that the return of the three veterans players had caused major tension in the Queens squad, which led Waya to withdraw early from the squad's training camp. In domestic netball, Waya plays for the MTL Queens. She was married to the late Bullets FC player Fumu Ng'oma, before they later separated; Waya and Ng'oma have two sons. She was named as the coach of the Tanzania National Netball Team in 2012. In July 2022, Waya was announced as the new Namibia National Netball Team coach

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waya, Mary Malawian netball players Malawian netball coaches Commonwealth Games competitors for Malawi Netball players at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Netball players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Netball players at the 2010 Commonwealth Games 1968 births Living people