One of the globe’s most experienced and successful netballers is set to guide the USC Spartans.
Laura Langman, a former World Cup winner with New Zealand and a Super Netball champion with the Sunshine Coast Lightning, will coach the Sippy Downs-based outfit in the Thunder Premier League competition in 2022.
Langman retired as a player last year, after featuring in 163 matches for New Zealand’s national team from 2003 and 2020. She was captain from 2018-20.
She also played elite club games for the Magic, the Northern Mystics, the Swifts and Lightning.
She won two Commonwealth Games gold medals, a World Cup and a national league Super Netball title.
But despite her extensive career, Langman said she was a rookie in the coaching stakes.
“Playing and being able to relay as a teacher are two very distinct aspects of the game,” she said.
“But I’m willing to learn and hopefully the team is willing to teach me a thing or two, so it will be a joint journey.
“I’m really keen to set a bit of a challenge at the start of the season and collectively come up with what we stand for and where we want to go to and how we’ll measure ourselves.”
Langman said she did not view her new role as a stepping stone, because she had no interest in leading a Suncorp Super Netball or national side.
Instead, she saw it as a chance to help develop young players and to give back to USC.
“USC was a huge part of getting Sunshine Coast Lightning up and running. I spent some wonderful years at Lightning,” she said.
USC Sports Coordinator Gary Moore said securing Langman to coach the student-only netball team was the equivalent of getting NRL legend Cameron Smith to coach the university’s rugby league team.
“I’m certainly stoked,” he said.
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Mr Moore said Langman would bring a wealth of experience to the team and help raise the profile of the Thunder Premier League.
The TPL is is a multi-division state-wide competition. USC Spartans play in the Zone 3 South-East Queensland competition, with the opportunity to play in the TPL state finals against Queensland’s top teams.
“When we started last year getting a team together for this league, I was hopeful we might get a high-profile player to coach,” he said.
“To get Laura on board is pretty exciting.”
The Spartans will train once a week and play against teams between Caboolture and Noosa on Friday nights. The 2022 season will start in May.
