Celebrating 87 days to go until #NWC2015

To mark 87 days to go until Netball World Cup 2015, Netball New Zealand is celebrating the Silver Ferns team that won GOLD at the ’87 tournament.

 With 87 days to go until the first whistles blow in the Netball World Cup, one player for whom the milestone has significance is former captain Leigh Gibbs who led New Zealand to World Championship gold in 1987.

Gibbs has fond memories of the tournament in Glasgow, Scotland paying tribute to coach Dame Lois Muir for taking the team to the top in world Netball.

“To be coached by Lois was the ultimate,” she said.

“When I was growing up in Gisborne, Netball was my whole world and anything else about Netball was unknown to me until I went to Dunedin, met Lois and was coached by Lois.

“What she taught me was around the love of the game, the passion, the determination and that second best is not good enough,” Gibbs said.

“I’d been with her for two other world championships and to reward her with the World Championship win outright, to do that for her was wonderful.

“To do it with a great group of women and for all of it to come together was just a wonderful reward for the perseverance and hard work.”

The New Zealanders dominated the 1987 World Netball Championships from start to finish, upsetting favourites Australia who had beaten the kiwis five out of six times the year before.

“We played Australia early in the 87 tournament,” she recalled.

“We played them in the Semi-Finals (different format to what it is now) but we met them earlier than expected as they had been beaten by Trinidad and Tobago, so defeating them comfortably early on in the competition really stood out.”

“To beat the team who had thrashed us the year before and to actually get on the court and dominate from the opening whistle was amazing. Getting over the hurdle of Australia for me was the standout of the tournament,” she said.