Netball NSW's coach of the year a proud product of Sutherland Shire

The celebration of the sport held at Sydney Olympic Park featured the presentation of awards including the Margaret Corbett OAM Coaches Award for 2020, which was proudly accepted by Sutherland Shire's Maria Lynch.

The award is presented in recognition of a coach who displays excellence within competitions conducted by Netball NSW.

Corbett, a Legend of NSW netball who made a huge contribution to netball at International, National, State and Association levels, was on hand to present the award.

It was a double celebration for Sutherland Shire as Corbett is also a product of the association, who last year became only the second-ever Legend in the Netball NSW Hall of Fame.

Lynch reflected on the challenging year that COVID-19 presented for the netball community.

"I think it's a testament to our sport that we are such great leaders in making sure that our competitions keep going," she said.

"As a coach this year it was very different... technology is not my forte, but the girls were happy to lead us in that sort of thing and it was great to be able to give some of the power back to them to drive some of what we were looking to do."

Lynch praised the attitudes of players during the COVID season.

"The girls have been very resilient and it's been a year where they've just had to go with the flow," she said.

"Some girls have missed out on playing at Nationals which they worked so hard to get to.

"So, as a coach, it was good to be able to support them, to guide them and make sure they were feeling okay every day - that was the important thing."

On being presented with the award by Corbett Lynch said, "She has had so much passion and vision for netball over the years... and is so respected all over Australia and internationally".

"If I could do a tenth of what Marg has done in her coaching journey, I hope that I've been able to give that back to the coaches and players that I've worked with along the Netball NSW pathway," she said.

Netball NSW also acknowledged the coaches that have worked tirelessly on improving their craft despite the challenges of 2020.

Sutherland Shire coaches recognised included: former NSW Swifts captain Abbey McCulloch, Kylie O'Brien and Craig Marsh.