At just 23, Rosie Smith has taken a New Zealand youth sports team to a height they have never been before.
The Christchurch primary school teacher coached the NZ U21 korfball team to a fourth- placed finish at the world championships in August – their highest place yet.
It’s an impressive feat for a person who only encountered the sport just over a decade ago.
Korfball is similar to netball or basketball, with four female and four male players on the court at one time.
The aim of the game is to throw the ball, similar to a soccer ball, into a basket (korf in Dutch), which sits at the top of a 3.5m tall post.
Smith first discovered korfball in 2015, seeing an ad from Korfball Canterbury in the newspaper in the summer holidays.
“I was staying with an auntie who is a bit off the grid, so I was like either stay there and have no internet…or I go and do something out of my comfort zone,” she says.
Having a background in netball and basketball along with athletics and swimming, Smith’s first
introduction to the sport wasn’t so great – getting injured and struggling to learn a brand new sport.
“I was like ‘I hate this, this is awful’, I wasn’t very good at it when I first started,” she explains. But when she started high school, Smith didn’t get into the netball team she wanted, so chose to return to korfball to see where the sport could take her.
It’s not a well-known sport in New Zealand, but korfball has around 70 participating countries worldwide, and is huge in the Netherlands – with around 100,000 registered Dutch players.
When Smith returned to the sport, she had no clue that representing New Zealand could come so soon.
Three years after her first attempt at playing, she made the U17 team, and travelled to the
Netherlands to represent her country, then making her senior debut at just 16.
Her coaching journey started when she was still in high school, but after completing her teaching degree, it took a more professional turn. Her close friend, fellow player and U21 coach Tom Donaldson suggested Smith should give guiding a team a go, and work under him as assistant coach.
The duo took an U21 team to the Asia Oceania Korfball Championship in China last year, where they won silver, losing the final to Chinese Taipei by just one goal. A commanding warm-up win before the tournament gave the team confidence to make the final for the first time, and to not just be there to make up numbers.
“We went into it going ‘Right let’s go for experience’ and then game by game, we cracked it and we got into the final. It was such an incredible game to watch and be proud of, it was just awesome,” says Smith.
Going into the world championship in August this year, Smith and Donaldson had swapped roles and the U21 team set their highest goal yet – to finish in the top four. As eight of the top 10 senior ranked korfball nations are European, playing a tournament which includes European teams is much tougher than the Asian/Oceania champs.
The Kiwis had the hardest possible start to the tournament, facing korfball powerhouses the Netherlands, and going down 45-7. But a 27-4 win over India and then a 22-10 win over usual close rivals Hong Kong meant New Zealand finished second in their pool, and faced England and Germany next.
“We had another goal of beating a European team, because New Zealand had never beaten a European team before,” says Smith.
They managed to topple England by just one goal, 15-14, and then beat Germany, 15-11, to set up a match against Belgium, which after going down 22-7, put them in the bronze medal match.
New Zealand were beaten by Chinese Taipei in the playoff for third, but top four was the highest the Kiwis had ever finished at a world champs. Apart from beating two European teams, Smith says seeing so many players make their international debut was a highlight for her – with nine new players to the squad.
“As a coach, it’s pretty cool being able to see everyone grow and have their moment to shine. It was really cool for the debuters to earn their fern, and singing the national anthem on the court with them, I was just so proud,” Smith says, with two players in the team experiencing close family bereavements, but still showing up for their side.
Historically, male coaches have dominated the mixed sport, but that’s starting to change. The majority of coaches at the World Cup were women, which Smith says is “incredible”. And while she is well supported, she does sometimes notice discrepancies in the way she’s treated.
“I don’t know if it’s directly a sexist thing but I do notice that quite often, people address Tom before they address me,” she says, also pointing out her youth can make people skeptical.
“But as much as people judge or say what they want to say, Tom and I have proved we can be young and get the job done. We’ve got a group of athletes without funding who get the job done and are up there with the top four teams in the world – we’ve proven it.”
It’s not an easy sport to be part of, with international trips costing players around $7000 each. The lack of publicity and support can mean a lack of depth in teams.
But the korfball community is supportive, and Smith has received advice from a top sporting coach.
Former All Blacks assistant coach Brad Mooar has two sons who play korfball, with son Charlie
captaining the U21 team this year.
“He’s incredible, he’s an absolute ripper of a human, I adore him, he’s so cool,” says Smith of Mooar, who has just been announced as the head coach of the Fijian Drua Super Rugby side.
“He gave us some real cool opportunities to go and watch the Crusaders team throughout their season and see how they coach and how they play, and the discipline, so that was a cool opportunity for Tom and I to be part of. He wants the best for the sport and he’s such a kind guy, such a cool mentor.”
Smith balances her coaching alongside her full-time job as a primary school teacher, but also her own korfball career. A member of the senior team, they’re currently preparing for their Asia Oceania Korfball Championship in December.
“It’s intense, because our coach [Jelle De Laet] lives in Belgium, he comes over and we have to do quite a bit to get prepared for that,” Smith explains.
“He’s got a big focus on strength and conditioning, which is really great, so we’ve just had three training camps in a row. But it’s just so cool having international expertise.”
Most of the team is based in Canterbury, which acts as a korfball hub, but the sport is looking to expand to other regions. ‘Mixx’ was established by Youri Borrink and Torsten Ball, and works to bring korfball to schools around Canterbury, but the long-term goal is to bring it to more places nationally.
In 2016, Borrink moved from the Netherlands to New Zealand, fell in love with a Kiwi and started
representing his new country and giving back to the sport.
“I wouldn’t be part of korfball without Youri,” Smith says. “I owe a lot to him, and I think a lot of the korfball community in New Zealand owes a lot to him because he puts so much time and effort in. He’s just incredible, and I think he doesn’t get enough credit.”