Melissa Bessell has coached netball in Fiji, Wales, and England. She has taken a national team from 19th in the world to 8th. She has a Bachelor of Sport and Recreation, a Masters in Professional Coaching, and seven children. And now, she's back where it all began, at Netball Waitakere, coaching the Waitakere Women’s Opens and serving as Netball Development Manager.
But before any of that, she had to start with the Under-13s.
"My mum basically blacklisted me," Melissa laughs, recalling the moment her mother, the legendary Sheryl Hyndman, one of the founding figures of Netball Waitakere refused to let her skip straight to elite coaching despite being a skilled player. "I didn't talk to her for a while. But many, many years later, I understood. Just because you're a player doesn't mean you're going to be a great coach. I had to earn my stripes."
That apprenticeship, from U13s through to U14s, U15s, U16s, U18s, and beyond shaped everything that followed.
The making of a coach
Melissa's netball roots run deep in West Auckland. She started playing at Green Bay Primary around age seven, and her journey through Blockhouse Bay and into what became Baytex was shaped by three strong women, including Mrs Kerry (a school friend’s mum), her mother and club stalwart Norma Peggs. Sheryl Hyndman wasn't just a coach; she was a mentor who understood that sport is about the whole person.
"If you turned up to training with a cold, she would send you home with vitamin C. If you had a mole on your face, she'd take you to get it checked. It wasn't just about netball, it was about you, the person."
That philosophy became the bedrock of Melissa's own coaching. When she got the coaching "bug" through Baytex's tradition of having premier players coach younger teams, she realised quickly that the win wasn't the only thing.
"As a player you win together. But as a coach, when you mould a team across a whole season and you watch these players grow and become wiser and more confident... there is not a bigger buzz."
After having children and stepping away from playing, Melissa threw herself into coaching. She earned a scholarship to AUT through playing netball and completed her Bachelor of Sport and Recreation, all while coaching at club and representative level simultaneously. Her roster at the time included Tamaki Makaurau, New Zealand Maori Secondary School, and the Auckland Deaf team, the latter a deliberate choice to sharpen her communication skills.
On the first day of her degree, surrounded by roughly 100 students, the lecturer asked why everyone was there. Most hedged. Melissa, an adult student in a room full of school leavers, stood up: "I'm going to be an international coach."
She meant it.
When her father passed away from cancer, it lit something inside her. She applied for the Fiji head coaching role and got it. Eighteen months living in "real Fiji" followed, during which her fourth daughter, Tale, was born in Suva and named by the national team.
From Fiji, she packed up a two-month-old baby and flew to Cardiff in the middle of the UK's worst winter, arriving in singlets, shorts, and jandals. Over five years in Wales she took the national team from 19th in the world to 8th, and coached the Celtic Dragons in the Vitality Netball Super League, guiding them to their first ever Grand Final in 2013. She then moved to Yorkshire where she led Queen Ethelberger's to the England school championship, later coaching London Pulse and Seven Stars before eventually returning home. Along the way, she also earned her Masters in Professional Coaching.
The family returned to New Zealand in 2022 after her husband Adam was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer. He passed away a year later. Melissa speaks of him as her "biggest supporter", the person who encouraged her to put herself first so she wouldn't run out of steam, and who had begun co-writing a book about her journey. She has promised to finish it.
Back where it began
Today, Melissa is Netball Development Manager at Netball Waitakere, the same centre her mother helped build. She coaches the Waitakere Women’s Opens and works to mentor coaches, umpires, and players across all levels, including running All Access netball for disabled athletes every Wednesday.
Her ambitions have shifted. The drive to become an ANZ franchise coach has been replaced by something bigger: building a legacy in her own community.
"For me, coaching has always been about building and creating strong women to walk into any room, stand up, have confidence, and if they're cut down, have the resilience to get up and carry on. That is the beauty of sport."
Her advice for aspiring coaches
Her message to anyone thinking about getting into coaching is simple: don't wait, and don't jump the queue.
