Domestic talent announced in 2024-25 Pathway to Performance cohort

Past and present domestic cricketers have been announced in New Zealand Cricket’s ‘Pathway to Performance Women in Coaching’ programme for the 2024-25 season.

Georgia Atkinson (Central Districts), Dee Doughty (Wellington), Kate Gaging (Central Districts), Breearne Illing (Auckland) and Kate Thompson (Otago) have all represented their regions at the domestic level and have been included in the third annual intake of the programme.

The 2024-25 cohort also includes a handful of Premier Club coaches, including Beth Dodd (Sydenham Premier Women) and Hayley Aburn (Old Boys Collegians Premier Women) of Canterbury, as well as Auckland’s Tuaoloa Helen Semau (Paptoetoe Premier Women).

The group also contains some international experience in Helen Semau, coach of the Samoan U19 Women’s side and representative of the Samoan national women’s team.

**Tuaoloa Helen Semau (middle) representing Samoa at the 2024 South Seas Pacific Cup - NZC**

For Semau, the opportunity to share her knowledge has been a driving factor in her coaching career.

“I wanted to get into coaching mainly because I've gathered all this knowledge and skill to better my playing ability, and I wanted to be able to pass that on,” said Semau.

“I figured the next best was to get into coaching, so that I can pass this knowledge on to females, particularly females from the Pacific, wanting to give cricket a go.

“I'm looking forward to gaining as much knowledge as I can and most importantly, learning more enjoyable and engaging ways to coach”.

Into its third season, the Pathway to Performance programme offers coaches valuable lessons through an in-person residential structure, learning from guest speakers and practical coaching opportunities.

The programme has proven effective for women looking to progress from the community level to performance coaching roles.

Last season, the programme helped promote 12 women to head or assistant coaching roles at the National U19 Women’s Tournament.

New Zealand Cricket High Performance Coach Development Manager, Dave Keelty, was impressed by the calibre of this season’s intake.

“We are thrilled with the standard of this year's Pathway to Performance participants," said Keelty.

"It’s exciting to see a number of domestic cricketers express a desire to further their coaching, as well as premier club coaches who are looking to take it to the next level,"

"I see this programme as a fantastic stepping-stone in the female coaching pathway, and I'm excited to see these coaches begin to pop up in performance environments."

Pathway to Performance Programme Coaches 2024-25

Hayley Aburn (Canterbury)

Georgia Atkinson (Central Districts)

Beth Dodd (Canterbury)

Dee Doughty (Wellington)

Kate Gaging (Central Districts)

Courtney Hayes (Northern Districts)

Emma Hayes (Northern Districts)

Erin Hunt (Northern Districts)

Breearne Illing (Auckland)

Maggie Martin (Canterbury)

Tuaoloa Helen Semau (Auckland)