Taini Maremare Jamison (; 23 February 1928 – 28 April 2023) was a New Zealand

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

coach and administrator. She coached the New Zealand national team to its first world title at the

1967 World Netball Championships The 1967 World Netball Championships was the second edition of the INF Netball World Cup, a quadrennial international netball competition. The 1967 tournament was held in Perth, Western Australia, and featured eight teams. New Zealand national ne ...

. The

Taini Jamison Trophy The Taini Jamison Trophy series is an international netball series hosted by Netball New Zealand. The series traditionally features New Zealand national netball team, New Zealand playing a series of Test match (netball), test matches against a ...

, contested between New Zealand and visiting international teams other than Australia, is named in her honour.

Early life and family

Jamison was born Taini Maremare Royal in

Rotorua Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. It is sited on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authorities of New Zea ...

on 23 February 1928. Her father, Te Rangiātaahua Kiniwē Royal, was of

Ngāti Raukawa Ngāti Raukawa is a Māori iwi (tribe) with traditional bases in the Waikato, Taupō and Manawatū/ Horowhenua regions of New Zealand. In 2006, 29,418 Māori registered their affiliation with Ngāti Raukawa. History Early history Ngāti ...

and

Ngāti Tamaterā Ngāti Tamaterā is a Māori ''iwi'' (tribe) of the Hauraki region of New Zealand, descended from Tamaterā, the second son of Marutūāhu. It is a major tribe within the Marutūāhu confederation and its leaders have been prominent in Hauraki ...

descent, and her mother, Irihapeti Te Puhi-o-Rākaiora Taiaroa, was from

Ngāi Tahu Ngāi Tahu, or Kāi Tahu, is the principal Māori people, Māori (tribe) of the South Island. Its (tribal area) is the largest in New Zealand, and extends from the White Bluffs / Te Parinui o Whiti (southeast of Blenheim, New Zealand, Blenhe ...

. Her father worked for the

Māori Land Court The Māori Land Court () is the specialist court of record in New Zealand that hears matters relating to Māori land. Established in 1865 as the Native Land Court, its purpose was to translate customary communal landholdings into individual ti ...

and was often away from home carrying out surveys. The family briefly moved to

Ruatoki Ruatoki North is a town in the eastern Bay of Plenty of New Zealand, just south of the small town of Tāneatua and approximately south of the town of Whakatāne. The Whakatāne River runs northwards through the Ruatoki Valley and has formed broa ...

in the eastern

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty () is a large bight (geography), bight along the northern coast of New Zealand's North Island. It stretches from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaway in the east. Called ''Te Moana-a-Toitehuatahi'' (the Ocean ...

because of his job. He served with the

Māori Battalion The 28th (Māori) Battalion, more commonly known as the Māori Battalion (), was a light infantry battalion of the New Zealand Army that served during the Second World War. The battalion was formed following pressure on the Labour government ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, was badly wounded and was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level until 1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth of ...

. Jamison studied at Rotorua High and Grammar School, but when her father was posted to

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

after the war she moved to

Wellington Girls' College Wellington Girls' College was founded in 1883 in Wellington, New Zealand. At that time it was called Wellington Girls' High School. Wellington Girls' College is a year 9 to 13 state secondary school, located in Thorndon in central Wellington. ...

, later studying at Wellington Teachers' Training College. In Wellington, she joined the Ngāti Pōneke Young Māori Club, which was much in demand to perform at government functions. She recalled performing for the famous British singer

Gracie Fields Dame Gracie Fields (born Grace Stansfield; 9 January 189827 September 1979) was a British actress, singer and comedian. A star of cinema and music hall, she was one of the top ten film stars in Britain during the 1930s and was considered the h ...

, when Fields was touring the

South Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

in 1945. After qualifying as a teacher, she had several different postings. When based in Horohoro, near Rotorua, she met her husband, Tom Jamison, who was coaching the local

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

team. Three months after they married, he died after an accident on the basketball court. She was already pregnant and her son was named after her husband. She did not remarry. Jamison spent eight years teaching in Horohoro before moving to Malfroy Primary School in Rotorua, where she stayed until reaching retirement age.

Netball career

Jamison's interest in netball began at a young age. She progressed to being a member of the Rotorua representative team, which won the national championships, and she was selected for the

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

team on three occasions. She retired from competition in 1959, after which she spent a decade coaching the Rotorua team. She also competed in tennis tournaments. In 1967, Jamison coached the New Zealand netball team that won the

World Netball Championships The Netball World Cup is a quadrennial international netball world championship organised by World Netball, inaugurated in 1963. Since its inception the competition has been dominated primarily by the Australia national netball team and the New ...

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Australia. Four years later, she coached the New Zealand team to the runners-up position in the

1971 World Netball Championships The 1971 World Netball Championships were the third edition of the INF Netball World Cup, a quadrennial premier event in international netball. It was held in Kingston, Jamaica, and featured nine teams, including the debut of the Bahamas. It began ...

in Jamaica, when the team was away from home for almost four months. She was the first

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...

coach of the New Zealand netball team, and is its most successful coach, having a percentage win rate of 90 per cent. Jamison was involved for nearly all of her adult life with Netball Rotorua and was its president from 1981 to 2001.

Death and legacy

Jamison died in Rotorua on 28 April 2023, aged 95. In 2008, the

, named in Jamison's honour, was established. It is contested when any netballing nation or nations, other than

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, play the

Silver Ferns The New Zealand national netball team, commonly known as the Silver Ferns ( or ), represent Netball New Zealand in international netball tournaments such as the Netball World Cup, the Commonwealth Games, the Taini Jamison Trophy, the Constell ...

in New Zealand.

Awards and honours

In 1972, Jamison was awarded the Netball New Zealand Service Award. In 1990, she received the

New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal The New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal was a commemorative medal awarded in New Zealand in 1990 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, and was awarded to 3,632 people. Background The New Zealand 1990 Com ...

. In the

1994 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1994 were appointments by most of the sixteen Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other ...

, she was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, for services to netball. In 1996, the New Zealand netball team coached by Jamison that won the 1967 world championship was inducted into the

New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame The New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame is an organisation commemorating New Zealand's greatest sporting triumphs. It was inaugurated as part of the New Zealand sesquicentenary celebrations in 1990. Some 160 members have been inducted into the hall ...

. As an individual, Jamison was inducted into the Māori Sports Hall of Fame in 2006, and in 2010, she was made a life member of

Netball New Zealand Netball New Zealand is the national body which oversees, promotes and manages netball in New Zealand, including the Silver Ferns. In 2019, 137,713 players were registered with Netball New Zealand, the governing body for organised netball in th ...

. In 2024, Jamison was an inaugural inductee to the

Netball New Zealand Hall of Fame The Netball New Zealand Hall of Fame is a figurative hall of fame dedicated to New Zealanders who have been influential in netball and have dedicated their lives to the betterment of the game. Inductees may come from all areas of netball, and may ...

References

External links

Brief video of Taini Jamison in 2020
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jamison, Taini 1928 births 2023 deaths New Zealand netball coaches New Zealand national netball team coaches New Zealand Māori netball players New Zealand netball players New Zealand netball administrators Sportspeople from Rotorua New Zealand Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Rotorua Girls' High School People educated at Wellington Girls' College Ngāi Tahu people Ngāti Raukawa people Ngāti Tamaterā people New Zealand schoolteachers New Zealand Māori schoolteachers 20th-century New Zealand sportswomen