Tanya Jane Dearns (née Cox; born 18 February 1967) is a New Zealand

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 ...

coach and former netball player. She played 31 international matches for the New Zealand team between 1990 and 1998, including at the

1991 World Netball Championships The 1991 World Netball Championships (also known as the Johnson & Johnson World Netball Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the eighth edition of the INF Netball World Cup, a quadrennial premier event in international netball. It was held in ...

Early life

Dearns was born Tanya Jane Cox in

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 ...

on 18 February 1967, the daughter of John and Jeanette Cox. Her father worked for the

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

and the family lived in various towns in the North Island, including

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, and

Tauranga Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...

. Cox was educated at Waitakere College in West Auckland, and

Otumoetai College Otumoetai College is a state co-educational secondary school located in Tauranga, New Zealand. The school opened in February 1965 with 206 students from years 9 to 13 (ages 12 to 18) to serve the western suburbs of Tauranga. ''Otumoetai'' is cla ...

in Tauranga, representing the latter school in both netball and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

Netball career

Cox began playing representative netball for Western Bay of Plenty, before moving to

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

where she played for the Pacific Island Church club and represented Wellington for 16 years. In 1987, she was in the New Zealand under-21 side, before playing basketball professionally in Australia for the

Nunawading Spectres Nunawading Spectres is a NBL1 South club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 South. The club is a division of Melbourne East Basketball Association (MEBA), the major administrative basketball o ...

in 1987 and 1988. Cox returned to netball and was a member of the Silver Ferns from 1990 to 1998, with a break in 1994 and 1995 when she coached the Wellington team. Cox was a member of the New Zealand team at the

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, where the Silver Ferns finished as runners-up. She also completed with the national side at the

1993 World Games The 1993 World Games ( nl, 1993 Wereldspelen), the fourth World Games, were an international multi-sport event held in The Hague, Netherlands. Titles 155 titles were awarded in 23 sports (not including invitational sports — aikido, equestrian ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, once again coming second behind Australia. Across her international career, Cox played in 31 Test matches. Between 1998 and 2000, Cox played for the

Capital Shakers Capital Shakers are a former New Zealand netball team that were based in Wellington. Between 1998 and 2007, Shakers played in the Coca-Cola Cup/National Bank Cup league. Between 2000 and 2002, Shakers were semi-finalists three years in success ...

in 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 ...

, and was assistant coach of the side in 2000, with

Lois Muir Dame Lois Joan Muir (née Osborne; born 16 April 1935) is a New Zealand netball coach and administrator, and a former representative netball and basketball player. Muir represented New Zealand in two sports, playing with the Tall Ferns from 195 ...

as head coach. Cox retired as a player at the end of the 2000 season, and married rugby coach Grant Dearns on 16 September 2000. The couple went on to have two children, including rugby union player

Warner Dearns is a Japanese rugby union player born in New Zealand who plays as a lock Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit betw ...

. Tanya Dearns was head coach of the Capital Shakers in 2001 and 2002, before moving to

Napier Napier may refer to: People * Napier (surname), including a list of people with that name * Napier baronets, five baronetcies and lists of the title holders Given name * Napier Shaw (1854–1945), British meteorologist * Napier Waller (1893–19 ...

in 2003 to become Netball Eastern regional manager. Dearns returned to coaching for a year in 2006, leading the

Western Flyers The Western Flyers were a New Zealand netball team which represented most of the Central, Southern and Eastern North Island in the National Bank Cup. The team was formed in 1998 and played all ten seasons of the competition. At the end of the 20 ...

in the National Bank Cup. She then took up a position as general manager of the Napier Golf Club, before being appointed assistant coach of the

Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic are a New Zealand netball team based in Hamilton. Between 1999 and 2007, they played in the Coca-Cola Cup/National Bank Cup league. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. Since 2017, Magic have ...

for the

2013 ANZ Championship season The 2013 ANZ Championship season was the sixth season of the ANZ Championship. The 2013 season began on 24 March and concluded on 14 July. With a team captained by Natalie von Bertouch and featuring Erin Bell, Carla Borrego, Renae Hallinan, R ...

. Despite being publicly endorsed by outgoing coach

Noeline Taurua Dame Noeline Taurua (born 26 March 1968) is a New Zealand international netball coach and former representative player. She is currently head coach of the New Zealand national netball team, the Silver Ferns. Early life Taurua was born in Pap ...

at the end of the 2013 season, Dearns was overlooked for the Magic's head coach role in favour of Australian

Julie Fitzgerald Julie Fitzgerald is a veteran Australian netball coach. Between 1997 and 2007, Fitzgerald served as head coach of Sydney Swifts in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy league. She guided Swifts to premierships in 2001, 2004, 2006 and 2007. Between ...

, and instead was appointed as general manager of the

Hawke's Bay Hawks The Hawke's Bay Hawks are a New Zealand basketball team based in Napier. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Pettigrew Green Arena. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as the Taylor Hawks ...

franchise in the National Basketball League. Dearns succeeded

Robyn Broughton Robyn Denise Broughton (née Quirk) is a New Zealand netball coach. Broughton coached the Southern Sting from 1998 to 2007 during the National Bank Cup, winning seven titles in ten years. She was also an assistant coach for the New Zealand nati ...

as coach of the

Central Pulse Central Pulse are a New Zealand netball team based in Wellington. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. Since 2017 they have represented Netball Central in the ANZ Premiership. Netball Central is the governing body that r ...

for the

2016 ANZ Championship season Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17 *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * ''Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * Sixteen (1943 film), ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 194 ...

. However, the Pulse won just two of their 13 matches in 2016, and Dearns was replaced as coach by

Yvette McCausland-Durie Yvette McCausland-Durie is a New Zealand netball coach and former netball player. As a player, she played for Western Flyers during the National Bank Cup era and represented New Zealand at under-21 level. She was a member of the New Zealand te ...

. Dearns was subsequently head coach of the

UWS Sirens Strathclyde Sirens are a Scottish netball team based in Glasgow. Since 2017 their senior team has played in the Netball Superleague. Sirens also played in the 2018 Netball New Zealand Super Club tournament. They were originally known as the Sc ...

in Scotland, before moving to the

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

Netball Association in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

as operations manager at the end of 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dearns, Tanya 1967 births Living people Sportspeople from Rotorua People educated at Waitākere College People educated at Otumoetai College New Zealand international netball players New Zealand netball players New Zealand basketball players Nunawading Spectres players 1991 World Netball Championships players Netball players at the 1993 World Games World Games silver medalists for New Zealand World Games medalists in netball Capital Shakers players New Zealand netball coaches Central Pulse coaches Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic coaches Netball Superleague coaches New Zealand expatriate netball people in Scotland New Zealand expatriate netball people in Australia New Zealand netball administrators National Bank Cup coaches Capital Shakers coaches Medalists at the 1993 World Games