Verity Sharland

Verity Sharland

• Coach Profile

Verity Sharland has a passion for helping the next generation, and has influenced many of New Zealand’s top hockey players.

A former representative of the Junior Black Sticks, Sharland not only coaches young hockey players, but also influences youth through her role at Feilding High School.

Sharland is a Head of Faculty for health and PE, and her role in education is something that’s always been important for her.

She first started coaching hockey when she was teaching at Westlake Girls’ High School in Auckland.

“That must have been around 2011, just helping out with some of the secondary school teams, then over time got given opportunities to work within the New Zealand age group programmes,” Sharland explains.

“Once I left Auckland and moved back to Palmerston North, that’s when I got a bit more involved in the regional representative programmes as well.”

Sharland has worked with age representative groups and says it’s important for her athletes to love the game.

“It often is quite a big commitment that we ask of them at that age, whether they’re within hockey, they’re often committed to club hockey, school hockey and then representative hockey,” she says.

“So finding the enjoyment from it, and having that growth mindset where they’re always looking at ways in which they can improve, and helping others as well.”

Having worked a lot with the under 21s, in 2022 the opportunity came up to work with the women’s Black Sticks as one of three assistant coaches.

The part-time role meant Sharland could still be based in the Manawatū and keep her teaching job, which was important to her.

“It was a big step up, but it was really enjoyable, just being able to help support the athletes and really tested a lot of what I thought of my knowledge,” Sharland says.

“In 2022, we were really lucky, we went to the World Cup and the Commonwealth Games, so those opportunities were pretty awesome.” New Zealand made it to the quarterfinals of the World Cup, and were agonisingly close to a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games, losing on penalties.

Darren Smith was the head coach for those campaigns, and Sharland worked alongside Bryce Collins and former men’s Black Stick Shea McAleese in the assistant coach roles.

Being one of three assistant coaches was a challenging but rewarding experience for Sharland.

“We worked really collaboratively and had quite a cool, open and supportive environment, where we would bounce ideas off each other, help support each other and challenge each other in really positive ways,” she says.

“It also was quite unique that we were all distributed across the country as well, so it meant that we had to communicate regularly to make sure that we did all remain on the same page.”

After the Oceania Cup in 2023, Sharland stepped away from the Black Sticks but has stayed involved with Hockey New Zealand through junior programmes – the Future Black Sticks, and the under 21 women’s team.

“It’s been really cool cause the junior programme aligns quite nicely with the school year,” says Sharland on being head coach of the U21 team.

“It’s also an opportunity for me to lead a programme which is really valuable as well, and to see it through to the Junior World Cup.”

Something that has helped Sharland stay involved with hockey, particularly with coaching, was being accepted into the High Performance Sport New Zealand residency programme. ‘Residency Experiences’ for women in high performance sport help those looking for leadership and coaching positions, and help prepare and develop women for further opportunities.

“That’s been awesome, I’ve been really fortunate with that,” Sharland says of the residency.

“The network of people – not just coaches – is really supportive.

“The lead with Helene [Wilson], she’s pretty outstanding, helping to challenge me to look at things differently and to progress not just with my coaching, but within my leadership skills and capabilities.

“Essentially the role that they have helped create, I probably wouldn’t still be coaching if it wasn’t for the residency programme.”

As Sharland continues to give back to the sport that’s given so much to her, she’s aware that the learning never stops.

“Listen to the athletes, I just think they have a wealth of knowledge,” she says.

“Sometimes we can forget that they are a really important part of the puzzle.”