Tanya Jane Dearns (née Cox; born 18 February 1967) is 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 former netball player. She played 31 international matches for the New Zealand team between 1990 and 1998, including at the

1991 World Netball Championships The 1991 World Netball Championships (also known as the Johnson & Johnson World Netball Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the eighth edition of the INF Netball World Cup, a quadrennial premier event in international netball. It was held in ...

Early life

Dearns was born Tanya Jane Cox 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 18 February 1967, the daughter of John and Janette Cox. Her father worked for the

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

and the family lived in various towns in the North Island, including

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, and

Tauranga Tauranga (, Māori language for "resting place," or "safe anchorage") is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty Region and the List of cities in New Zealand, fifth-most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of or roughly 3% of t ...

. Cox was educated at Waitakere College in West Auckland, and

Otumoetai College Otumoetai College is a state co-educational secondary school located in Tauranga, New Zealand. The school opened in February 1965 with 206 students from years 9 to 13 (ages 12 to 18) to serve the western suburbs of Tauranga. ''Otumoetai'' is cla ...

in Tauranga, representing the latter school in both netball and

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 ...

Netball career

Cox began playing representative netball for Western Bay of Plenty, before moving 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 ...

where she played for the Pacific Island Church club and represented Wellington for 16 years. In 1987, she was in the New Zealand under-21 side, before playing basketball professionally in Australia for the

Nunawading Spectres Nunawading Spectres is a NBL1 South club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 South. The club is a division of Melbourne East Basketball Association (MEBA), the major administrative basketball ...

in 1987 and 1988. Cox returned to netball and was a member of the Silver Ferns from 1990 to 1998, with a break in 1994 and 1995 when she coached the Wellington team. Cox was a member of the New Zealand team at the

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, where the Silver Ferns finished as runners-up. She also completed with the national side at the

1993 World Games The 1993 World Games (), the fourth World Games, were an international multi-sport event held in The Hague, Netherlands. Titles 155 titles were awarded in 23 sports (not including invitational sports — aikido, equestrian vaulting, indoor tug o ...

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

, once again coming second behind Australia. Across her international career, Cox played in 31 Test matches. Between 1998 and 2000, Cox played for the

Capital Shakers Capital Shakers are a former New Zealand netball team that were based in Wellington. Between 1998 and 2007, Shakers played in the Coca-Cola Cup/National Bank Cup league. Between 2000 and 2002, Shakers were semi-finalists three years in success ...

in the

National Bank Cup The National Bank Cup, originally known as the Coca-Cola Cup, was the top level national Netball in New Zealand, New Zealand netball league between 1998 in New Zealand, 1998 and 2007 in New Zealand, 2007. The league was organised by Netball Ne ...

, and was assistant coach of the side in 2000, with

Lois Muir Dame Lois Joan Muir (née Osborne; born 16 April 1935) is a New Zealand netball coach and administrator, and a former representative netball and basketball player. Muir represented New Zealand in two sports, playing with the Tall Ferns from 19 ...

as head coach. Cox retired as a player at the end of the 2000 season, and married rugby coach Grant Dearns on 16 September 2000. The couple went on to have two children, including rugby union player

Warner Dearns is a professional rugby union player who plays as a lock for Japan Rugby League One club Toshiba Brave Lupus. Born in New Zealand but moved to Japan at the age of 14 years old, he represents Japan at international level after qualifying on ...

. Tanya Dearns was head coach of the Capital Shakers in 2001 and 2002, before moving to Napier in 2003 to become Netball Eastern regional manager. Dearns returned to coaching for a year in 2006, leading the Western Flyers in the National Bank Cup. She then took up a position as general manager of the Napier Golf Club, before being appointed assistant coach of the

Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic are a New Zealand netball team based in Hamilton. The team were formed in 1998, following the merger of Waikato Wildcats and Bay of Plenty Magic. In 1997, Wildcats and Magic had been founder members of the Coca-Col ...

for the

2013 ANZ Championship season The 2013 ANZ Championship season was the sixth season of the ANZ Championship. The 2013 season began on 24 March and concluded on 14 July. With a team captained by Natalie von Bertouch and featuring Erin Bell, Carla Borrego, Renae Hallinan, ...

. Despite being publicly endorsed by outgoing coach

Noeline Taurua Dame Noeline Taurua (born 26 March 1968) is a New Zealand international netball coach and former representative player. She is currently head coach of the New Zealand national netball team, the Silver Ferns. Early life Taurua was born in Papa ...

at the end of the 2013 season, Dearns was overlooked for the Magic's head coach role in favour of Australian

Julie Fitzgerald Julie Fitzgerald is a veteran Australian netball coach. Between 1997 and 2007, Fitzgerald served as head coach of Sydney Swifts in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy league. She guided Swifts to premierships in 2001, 2004, 2006 and 2007. Between ...

, and instead was appointed as general manager of the

Hawke's Bay Hawks The Hawke's Bay Hawks are a New Zealand professional basketball team based in Napier. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at Pettigrew Green Arena. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as th ...

franchise in the National Basketball League. Dearns succeeded

Robyn Broughton Robyn Denise Broughton (née Quirke; 10 July 1943 – 6 September 2023) was a New Zealand netball coach. Broughton coached the Southern Sting from 1998 to 2007 during the National Bank Cup, winning seven titles in ten years. She was also an as ...

as coach of the

Central Pulse Central Pulse are a New Zealand netball team based in Wellington. Between 2008 and 2016, they played in the ANZ Championship. Since 2017 they have represented Netball Central in the ANZ Premiership. Netball Central is the governing body that ...

for the

2016 ANZ Championship season The 2016 ANZ Championship season was the ninth and last season of the ANZ Championship. The season began on 1 April 2016 and concluded on 4 July 2016. Southern Steel (netball), Southern Steel were minor premiers. However they subsequently lost ...

. However, the Pulse won just two of their 13 matches in 2016, and Dearns was replaced as coach by

Yvette McCausland-Durie Yvette McCausland-Durie is a netball in New Zealand, New Zealand netball coach and former netball player. As a player, she played for Western Flyers during the National Bank Cup era and represented New Zealand national netball team, New Zealand ...

. Dearns was subsequently head coach of the

UWS Sirens Strathclyde Sirens are a Scottish netball team based in Glasgow. Since 2017 their senior team has played in the Netball Superleague. Sirens also played in the 2018 Netball New Zealand Super Club tournament. They were originally known as the S ...

in Scotland, before moving to the

Cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...

Netball Association in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

as operations manager at the end of 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dearns, Tanya 1967 births Living people Sportspeople from Rotorua People educated at Waitākere College People educated at Otumoetai College New Zealand international netball players New Zealand netball players New Zealand basketball players Nunawading Spectres players 1991 World Netball Championships players Netball players at the 1993 World Games World Games silver medalists for New Zealand World Games medalists in netball Capital Shakers players New Zealand netball coaches Central Pulse coaches Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic coaches Netball Superleague coaches New Zealand expatriate netball people in Scotland New Zealand expatriate netball people in Australia New Zealand netball administrators National Bank Cup coaches Capital Shakers coaches Medalists at the 1993 World Games 20th-century New Zealand sportswomen