By Elizabeth Winter
Legendary coach Simone McKinnis travelled to Papua New Guinea to run a training session with the PNG Pepes and support Netball PNG’s High Performance Plan for 2026.
The initiative was part of the Netball’s Ocean of Power program – an Australian Government initiative delivered through the Pacific Women’s Sports Administration Program – and PacificAus Sports.
Alongside high performance planning, the two-day workshop, facilitated by Netball Australia, also focused on finalising Netball PNG’s Strategic Plan for 2026-2029.
The workshop brought together 20 participants, representing a diverse range of perspectives from Papua New Guinea’s netball community.
Netball PNG staff collaborated with Netball Australia and Simone McKinnis during the two-day workshop.Having spent 13 years at the helm of the Melbourne Vixens, McKinnis has also worked with the Australian 21U Squad, Singapore Sports School, as well as Netball Tanzania in her coaching career.
Across two days, McKinnis brought invaluable insight and experience to Netball PNG, offering a deep understanding of what it takes to build sustainable success at the elite level.
McKinnis was enthusiastic about the positive collaboration which took place during her time in Papua New Guinea.
“I’ve loved working with Netball PNG, we had a great group in terms of the knowledge and experience present in the room,” she said.
“People who wanted to be proactive and were passionate about growing the sport. It gave me energy to see their drive and will for things to grow and strengthen.”
McKinnis supported Netball PNG with refining their High Performance Plan for 2026.While in Papua New Guinea, McKinnis ran an Intensive Training Session with the PNG Pepes and head coach Lua Rikis.
“We had a great training session with the Pepes. There was a mix of developing and senior athletes, and I really enjoyed working with them all,” McKinnis said.
“The team were keen to learn and grow, and they demonstrated throughout the session they were competitive, resilient, and strong.”
Working in close collaboration with McKinnis, head coach Lua Rikis praised her involvement in working with the PNG Pepes.
“I spoke with Simone beforehand about what I wanted the session to focus on. Because we have different levels of netballers currently in training, I felt it was important we had something relevant for each of those athletes at different levels,” Rikis explained.
“With Simone’s experience, the intensity of the session was what we wanted and the outcome was good.”
McKinnis delivered an intensive training session with the PNG Pepes and development squads.Netball PNG also finalised their Strategic Plan for 2026-2029 with the support of Netball Australia’s Market Development team and 20 participants from Netball PNG management, board members, life members, coaching staff and affiliate presidents.
President of Netball PNG, Ulato Avei, said this workshop was an important milestone in affirming Netball PNG’s strategic direction.
“This workshop set the stage for everybody to think in oneness. We all have our different ideas, but the last two days have brought everyone together to think united, and how best we can work together,” Avei said.
“We achieved our objective in terms of finalising the Strategic Plan and the High Performance Plan. Now we can focus on ensuring these are delivered and executed accordingly.”
President of Netball PNG Ulato Avei was pleased with the workshop's success and collaboration with Netball Australia.Netball Australia’s Head of Market Development, Sallee Caldwell, reflected on the progress made over the course of the workshop.
“Netball PNG has shown that its netball community are leading the way with having a clear vision for the growth of netball across Papua New Guinea. This includes a strong commitment to high-performance pathways and athlete development.” she said.
Netball Australia and Netball PNG have a strong working relationship based on the shared commitment to growing netball globally, expressed by President of Netball PNG Ulato Avei.
“Despite living in different countries, we have a very strong relationship with Netball Australia, working together working to deliver our programs including both community netball and high-performance initiatives,” Avei said.
Simone McKinnis with Netball PNG President Ulato Avei and board members.Netball’s Ocean of Power is an Australian Government initiative empowering women and girls in the Pacific to step into leadership roles and become champions within their communities.
PacificAus Sports is an Australian Government initiative which builds people-to-people links and further strengthens Australia and the Pacific’s close regional ties through a shared love of sport.
Interested in Netball Australia’s international development work? See more here.
