The Silver Ferns and Otago great was proud as punch after the St Hilda’s Collegiate team she coaches finished fifth at the New Zealand secondary schools championships in Porirua.
St Hilda’s beat St Mary’s College 35-26 on Friday to seal their best result in the history of the highly competitive tournament.
"They were awesome — they’ve been awesome all year," Colling said.
"They’re a talented bunch and I’m glad they were able to perform at the tournament.
"We probably could have been in the third-fourth game — that’s probably where we deserved to be — but fifth is pretty darn good."
Colling was one of the most determined netballers you could imagine in her day.
No surprise, then, that she was particularly impressed with the fight her youngsters showed at the tournament, citing a difficult game against eventual champions Mt Albert Grammar School as an example.
"They’ve been very good at just never giving up. They’ve got great resilience to just keep fighting.
"We had that game against MAGS, who came out and just absolutely belted us in the first quarter.
"Although they were a bit shell-shocked, the girls kept fighting and they never gave up.
"We had a bit of a ‘be the best you can be’ focus, and I think they really encapsulate that as a team. I’m immensely proud of the character in them."
No fewer than three of the regular St Hilda’s starters were year 11 students, boding well for the future.
Charlie Farquhar had an excellent tournament at goal shoot, regularly completing 90% of her shots despite attracting lots of attention from the circle defence.
Relentless captain Aya Moetaua led by example from the back — and was particularly impressive on the opening day of the tournament, Colling said — and Kyla Ashton was good value in the midcourt despite starting the week suffering the effects of the flu.
Ruby Hore, Colling’s daughter and one of the year 12s in the team, did lots of good playmaking work at wing attack.
Five of the team were playing their last schools netball but St Hilda’s should still be strong in 2026.
In a delightful piece of symmetry, St Hilda’s fifth placing nationally matched the effort of fellow Dunedin school Logan Park — led by a young Colling — in the first New Zealand schools tournament in 1993.
Colling felt this year’s final, between Mt Albert and Howick, was as good a game of schools netball as she had seen.
Columba College also celebrated a good season with 11th place at the national championships.
