Profile of Bernice Mene
June 2002

Born: 18 January 1975
Height: 1.89 m
Positions: GD, GK
Current Team: Southern Sting (captain)
Past Teams: Canterbury, Wellington, Silver Ferns (captain)

Bernice Mene was always destined to become a New Zealand sporting legend. An exhibit in New Zealand's national museum, Te Papa in Wellington, pays tribute to the Mene family, one of Aotearoa's great sporting clans. Bernice's parents both repesented New Zealand and Samoa in athletics, and her mother and aunt played netball. Bernice also had two brothers to compete with in various sporting endeavours, one of whom went on to represent New Zealand at the Commonwealth Games.

Bernice's own sporting career began from a young age. She started playing netball in First Form and quickly made age-group teams. Bernice was also proficient in athletics, and holds Canterbury track and field records for high jump and shot put. In 1991 she made the Canterbury netball team, and was fast-tracked into the national side, the Silver Ferns, as a teenager.

Bernice's provincial alliances shifted around the country as she travelled to study. She played for Wellington in 1996 and Southland from 1998. Meanwhile, Bernice played for the Silver Ferns and also found time to complete a Bachelor of Arts from Victoria University, a Diploma of Creative Writing and a Diploma of Teaching.

Bernice captained the Silver Ferns during 1997 and again from 2000-2001. She also captained the Southern Sting to three successive Coca Cola Champions trophies in 1999, 2000 and 2001. Hopefully she will be able to add a fourth title to that impressive list this season, which will probably mark the end of her netball career.

Playing at Goal Defense, Bernice has consistently been a stand-out individual performer as well as a successful captain. When she retired from the Silver Ferns in January 2002, she was arguably the best player in the world in her position. Even after retiring from the national side, however, Bernice continued to show her dedication to her sport by commuting from Auckland to play with the Sting.

When she does finish with netball, Bernice has plenty of other avenues open to her. From childhood, she was encouraged to excel in academia and music as well as sport. She is interested in languages, and has taught French, German and English at Otago Girls High and Mount Albert Grammar in Auckland. She is currently working as Coachcorp Manager for Sport Auckland. Bernice has also been involved with the Southland Netball Union, the Hillary Commission, the Heart Foundation, and advocated numerous other organisations in New Zealand.

NOTE: This brief profile is not very good nor detailed. If you have any suggestions for how it might be improved, or any suggestions, please email me.

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