She eventually spent over 10 years with New Zealand's national netball team the Silver Ferns before retiring after the 2011 season.
Bailey (38) spoke to Wakatipu High School pupils at their annual blues awards on Friday night. Speaking to the Queenstown Times before the talk, she said a key message for pupils was not to give up.
She added youngsters should never be afraid to ask for help.
While she is no longer a professional netballer, she is still heavily involved with the sport, commentating on television, ''helping out'' with representative coaching in Pukekohe and running a netball academy from One Tree Hill College in Auckland.
Asked what she thought of Southern team the Southern Steel, she was full of praise.
''It's fantastic what they are doing with the netball down here.''
Looking at the bigger netball picture, the Silver Ferns have suffered consecutive losses to Australia recently, but Bailey believes the Australians are beatable.
''Obviously they [Silver Ferns] had some things out of their control - there were interesting umpiring calls throughout the series.''
Bailey predicts the Silver Ferns will ''shock the Australians'' and take home the gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow
