Mid Canterbury Netball has a new leader.
Cindy Meadows has taken over as the president of the Mid Canterbury Netball management board, having been nominated for the position vacated by Ange Mitchell, who stepped down as both president and board member at the 101st AGM on Monday.
Mitchell – a former Silver Fern who was born and raised in Mid Canterbury – had served four years as president, after first joining the board in 2019, and while sad to be leaving the board she said the time was right.
While she’s departed the board, she’s far from leaving netball, continuing her involvement with netball in Mid Canterbury through her coaching.
Meadows comes to the board with decades of netball experience under her belt.
She’s played netball in Ashburton since 1987 through to the present day, and has been involved in coaching since 1990, coaching club teams for the Hampstead Netball Club, Ashburton College and Borough School, as well as Mid Canterbury representative teams.
In 2024 she coached the Hampstead Ray White A team to the runner up spot in the ACL Premier competition, and the Mid Canterbury U18 team that played at nationals in Dunedin.
Meadows said she’d been looking for a different challenge in 2025, and felt there was a strong alignment between her professional skills and her love and knowledge of netball.
“Giving back to a sport that has given me, my friends and my daughter so much is a large part of my motivation,” Meadows said.
“I am absolutely committed to netball in Mid Canterbury and helping as many people as possible develop a lifetime active love of netball in our community.”
Outgoing president Mitchell was recognised for her work on the board by the presentation of one of the trophies given out annually at the AGM, the Sport Canterbury Trophy for a volunteer.
Another outgoing board member, Nicole Hands, was presented with the Elsie Adlam Memorial Trophy for administrative excellence within Mid Canterbury Netball, while the Pat Craig Trophy for administrative excellence within a club went to the Methven Netball Club, and the Anstiss Paper Plus Trophy for administrative excellence within a club went to the United Netball Club.
Mid Canterbury Netball’s Life Membership and Service Award Committee also made two presentations at the AGM, making Jan Cochrane a life member, and presenting a service award to Claire Tappin.
Cochrane’s involvement with netball in Mid Canterbury began in 1974, firstly as a player for Old Collegians.
She went on to make a name for herself as a coach for multiple club teams, and Mid Canterbury representative teams, but arguably one of her biggest feats was being the coach of an Ashburton College team that qualified for the New Zealand Secondary School Championships five times (1996, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002).
A remarkable feat particularly considering in those days only 12 teams qualified for the tournament (these days it’s 16), and one that has not happened outside of Cochrane’s time.
She also coached College A to four Mid Canterbury Netball premier titles (2000, 2001, 2002 and 2008) and led three College netball trips to Australia, and from an administrative perspective has held multiple roles on multiple netball committees over the decades, including leading the committee which put on Mid Canterbury Netball’s centenary celebrations in 2023.
Meanwhile, Tappin was presented with a service award, after more than 20 years involved with the United club.
Tappin stepped down as the club’s president in 2021, having begun her time with United as a formidable player for the club’s A side not long after moving to New Zealand from England.
She went on to represent both Mid Canterbury and Canterbury Country, but in more recent years she has made a name for herself as a coach, and over the past two years coaching first the College Y9As and then the 10As to top five placing at the Junior South Island Secondary Schools tournaments.
Off the court she served as president of United for seven years, and over the years has given much to United, College, and Mid Canterbury Netball, through multiple voluntary roles – coach, selector, player, umpire, media liaison – and is currently employed by Mid Canterbury Netball as a coach developer.
