Sam Winders helping the next generation to get smart

Newsroom

4 days ago

Sam Winders was in no-man's land when she came home to New Zealand.
The 47-test Silver Fern had been playing for the Giants in Sydney for the 2024 Suncorp Super Netball season. She spent the last part of the season sitting on the bench and she came home with renewed focus.
'I thought 'Oh my gosh, I am no longer cut out for this life of sitting on the bench'. I just want to play, whatever that looks like,' says the 29-year-old from Rotorua.
There were limited spots in the regions she wanted to play so for the first time in her career, she thought of life outside of netball. Winders was lining up to study a Diploma of Teaching when she got a call from Silver Ferns physio Sharon Kearney.
'Shaz called me and said: 'There's a job going at WBOP and I think you should apply',' says Winders. 'I thought 'why not'. It was the first time I had a proper job interview in years – it felt like my first day at school – but it has all fallen into place and I'm loving it.'
Winders, who attended John Paul College in Rotorua, where she was deputy head girl, is the new NetballSmart Development Officer for the WBOP region.
'I'm teaching stuff that I am so passionate about, and to a degree, a bit of an expert in. Being able to move well and doing things that make you a better person and a better player,' she says.
'It's a full circle moment, 10 years ago, when the NetballSmart warm up first came out, I was a fresh face university student slash netball player. So going from being an ambassador of NetballSmart to now being fully embedded in it and helping the next generation of players is cool.'
Winders in full flight for the Magic against the Central Pulse in Porirua in 2022., Photo: Michael Bradley photography
In 2024 ACC accepted 23,796 netball-related injuries which came at a cost of $48 million to help people recover. This was the highest number of netball injuries and cost for the past five years.
ACC has partnered with Netball NZ since 1997 to deliver NetballSmart. It is the only injury prevention programme to focus solely on improving outcomes for females.
In 2025, the Ferns lead physiotherapist Kearney has driven the revision of the programme. The revised warm-up focuses more on the landing and deceleration components of the warm-up, and it is more game-specific.
Kearney says Winders is an ideal role model for the programme.
'Sam is a hard-working and very competitive player who sustained minimal injuries at an ANZ Premiership, Suncorp Super Netball and international level. She ran hard, decelerated strongly and landed each jump well – no matter how challenging.
'Sam's ability to share her expertise directly with players on achieving success, integrated with NetballSmart messaging to minimise injury risk is invaluable.
'That is why Sam was great as a NetballSmart ambassador and now as one of our regional officers – she can help tell the story of what it takes to play netball like she does.'
Winders is focused on developing more young athletes in New Zealand.
ACC data shows that the 10 – 14 age group (6,306 claims) and 15 – 19 age group (4,513) had the most netball-related injuries in 2024.
'We don't have the depth of athlete that we need,' she says. 'Often in netball, we bypass the athlete, and we go, 'who's tall, who's got the physical attributes of being a netball player?' Let's pick them.
'So, you get to the Silver Ferns, and people can't jump or turn fast or accelerate well or stop efficiently – they just lack those athletic capabilities or may have sustained significant injuries on their journey to the top.
'In the sessions I am leading, we are taking that concept and running with it. We train them to be athletes, embedding in habits early which gives them freedom to do whatever they want in the game and decrease injury risk.'
Winders says for young people, they want to prevent a serious injury, like rupturing your ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) at all costs.
In 2024, ACC accepted 373 ACL related netball injuries, and 335 of those were female.
Sam is the new NetballSmart development officer in the Western Bay of Plenty. Photo: Supplied
'I have seen it in my teams, the huge personal cost an injury like that has, it puts everything on hold and some players, they might not be the same again.
'I grew up here in Rotorua and we had so many talented players who didn't make it to the next level so that is a big drive for me, making sure we are looking after our local players.'
Winders says it's a special feeling coming away from a team training where the players are fully engaged in learning the NetballSmart dynamic warm-up. She says players who complete the warm-up have up to 50 percent less chance of injury.
'From the team point of view, the teams who have the fewest number of injuries are generally the most successful as well.'
And for Winders, she hasn't hung up her bib, just yet.
For now, she is playing club netball for Ngongotahā in the Tauranga Premier Competition.
'I don't think I will ever lose that love of playing and competing, but I'm also getting huge rewards from working with our young players.'
ACC claims – netball injuries
In 2024 ACC accepted 23,796 netball-related injuries which came at a cost of $48 million to help people recover.
In 2024 ACC accepted 373 ACL related netball injuries, and 335 of those were female.
What is NetballSmart
NetballSmart is an evidence-based framework made up of six principles. It helps improve your performance in sport by preventing injuries.
The revised warm-up focuses more on increased emphasis on the landing and deceleration components of the warm-up and it is more game-specific.
For more: https://www.netballsmart.co.nz/