MENTORING young netball hopefuls has become a way of life for Nelson Bay sporting identity Linda Jones.
Since arriving in Port Stephens from her native city of Adelaide 10 years ago, the mother of two has nurtured some of the region’s finest netballers and given sterling service to the Nelson Bay Netball Association.
Linda capped a memorable 2025 season when named Coach of the Year at the association’s recent presentation night – just hours after masterminding a Junior 11-12yrs championship title with her undefeated Stingrays team.
It was a deserved accolade for the astute coach and Masters representative.
Regarded as one of the Hunter’s top netball tacticians, Linda guided the Nelson Bay 14-years representative side to a top six ranking in Division Three at the NSW Junior State Netball titles at Penrith earlier this year, before steering her Nelson Bay 17 years team to a Grand Final appearance in the Newcastle Division Two competition.
Souths Ash defeated Nelson Bay 29-15 in the trophy decider but Linda’s 17-year-old charges stamped their mark during the Newcastle series with an impressive record against the leading clubs.
They lost only one match during the regular season to West Leagues Warriors 37-32 back in June, and were the only team to beat the eventual premiers – rolling Souths Ash 31-22 at Parkway Avenue on the eve of the finals.
The Nelson Bay girls defeated Souths Ebony 33-27, Souths Ash, Maryland-Wallsend Sparrows 41-22 and Wests League Warriors 37-34, before downing the Sparrows 33-21 and Warriors 38-22 in elimination and preliminary finals to advance to the Grand Final.
Stalwart Jones along with outgoing president Rebecca Keating were also recognised on presentation night for their outstanding service to the association.
Juggling her heavy coaching commitments doesn’t seem to faze Linda, who takes it all in her stride.
She made her representative coaching debut with Nelson Bay’s Under 11 Development squad in 2003 before taking over the reins of the 12-years and 14-years lineups these past two seasons.
“I enjoy the coaching aspect of netball and nurturing my teams in their development stage,” said the hard-working mentor, who also manages time to watch her talented daughters Ella, 20, and Leila,18, in action.
Ella, an experienced wing defence or centre, and shooter Leila, are mainstays in the Nelson Bay and Newcastle competitions and have represented their association with distinction at various levels, and the Hunter, in the Netball NSW Metro League.
Linda will coach the Nelson Bay Opens representative team, which includes daughter Ella, at the 2026 Senior State Titles to be co-hosted by the Baulkham Hills Shire and Penrith District Netball Associations.
By Chris KARAS
You can help your local paper.
Make a small once-off, or (if you can) a regular donation.
We are an independent family owned business and our newspapers are free to collect and our news stories are free online.
Help support us into the future.
