Meet Coach Jo

Do you know our sports coach Jo Beveridge? We have met up with her to talk about her passion for netball, but also about motivation and what you can learn through practising sports. 

What is your role in Swiss netball?  

Another lady in Geneva and I started the Swiss Netball Association in 2009 (the governing body for netball in Switzerland). We guided its growth, which started with Geneva Girls Netball Association (GGNA) and netball at IIL. The IIL sports hall is the only international sized permanent netball court in Switzerland, so it’s perfect for us to train there. I also went to Ecolint LGB and helped them start up and since then it has grown into what it is today. For a number of years I was the U17 National & Open Team Manger but I left Swiss Netball to concentrate on developing GGNA and IIL netball. This year I have gone back onto the Swiss Netball governing body, as the Swiss Operations Manager, which is a time consuming but rewarding role.

What drives you? 

Watching girls play sport with a smile on their faces. The pleasure of seeing the girls work hard and achieve things that, sometimes, they didn’t think were possible. I love working with the girls, watching young new netballers gain confidence and learn, then see them as they become teenagers and still come to play netball and enjoy it. It never fails to surprise me, just how much the girls improve from one year to the next.

Can you give us an example of what netball can do for young girls?

Teamwork is the most important example and from that comes; responsibility, leadership, compassion, problem solving, decision making, understanding hard work brings results, learning to lose with good grace.