Lana McCarthy

Adjunct Staff

Dr Lana McCarthy

BSpEx (Education), Grad.Dip Tchng (Secondary), PGrad.Dip.SprtMngt (Coaching) MSpEx (Coaching), PhD

Bathurst
Building 1431 Office 2.43

Dr. Lana McCarthy has 13 years of experience teaching within the Health and Physical Education sector, including as a registered Physical Education and Health teacher in New Zealand. She has also been a Regional Sports Advisor for Sport Manawatu in which her key role was to maximise the participation and involvement of all school students in the Manawatu region by working with schools and school personnel to enhance the quality of the sporting experience. She has been an Assistant Lecturer in Physical Education at Massey University in New Zealand, and is currently a Lecturer in PDHPE.

Dr. McCarthy is also extremely passionate about coaching, and was a regionally and nationally appointed netball coach in NZ to a range of high performance netball teams spanning secondary school, U17, U19 and U23 level. She is currently involved in coaching multiple high performance teams spanning across club, representative and regional level here in the Central West region.

Dr McCarthy graduated with a Doctorate of Philosophy in May, 2019, where the purpose of her research was to investigate team culture, leadership, and coaching styles, and the ways in which captains and coaches have constructed the culture within the Silver Ferns Netball team, the first study of its kind in New Zealand Dr McCarthy’s research findings have also been published in a book titled: The Will to Win: New Zealand netball greats on team culture and leadership.

2020-current: Lecturer in PDHPE

2013-2019 - Senior Tutor/Assistant Lecturer in Physical Education, Massey University, New Zealand. Taught into the following degrees:

  • Bachelor of Sport Exercise (Physical Education)
  • Bachelor of Education (Primary)
  • Graduate Diploma of Teaching (Primary & Secondary)

2009-2012 – Health & Physical Education Teacher, Freyberg High School, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Research interests

  • High performance female sport, team culture, sport leadership and coaching approaches
  • The development of leadership and team culture in elite netball.
  • Developing a flexible and holistic approach to sport coaching.

Have plans to focus specifically on secondary school/representative age-group netball teams and how applicable the establishment and maintenance of a strong team culture and effective leadership could contribute towards a competitive advantage at a community-based level of netball.

Further research interests are in regards to Australian netball. With reference particularly to their high performance teams, research could be undertaken to test the perceptions of the past coaches and captains of the Australian Diamonds national netball team, and compare these findings to the responses provided by the past coaches and captains of the Silver Ferns national netball team. This research could analyse the differences (if any) in how both national teams view the importance and development of team culture, leadership, and their views on the emphasis on winning.