Rapid rise: Filling in time with mates to representing his country
Invercargill 18-year-old Josh Cocker has been named in the open men’s New Zealand Development team to head to Singapore in December for the Nations Series Men’s Netball Cup.
It started with an idea from Josh Cocker’s Year 11 English teacher Kim Mortimer.
As it has turned out, that idea has sparked a whirlwind journey for Cocker toward the global netball stage.
In 2020 Mortimer decided to rustle up a Southland Boys’ High School team to play in the “Just for Boyz” netball competition. At the time Cocker thought, ‘why not’?
It was a chance to hang out with his mates, and to try something different outside the then 15-year-old’s main sporting interests - cricket and basketball.
Although netball quickly grew on him.
Cocker started to play in his mum Megan’s social netball team. It was during a social game where he was spotted by Rata Raptors captain Dylan Kawana–Waugh who asked Cocker if he was interested in playing for a senior team.
He took up that offer in 2021 and the next request was for Cocker to attend a Southland men’s trial.
“I had nothing else to do with my Thursday night, I tagged along and to my surprise made the Southland A team.”
That booked a trip to the nationals in Christchurch and by the end of the tournament he found himself on the national radar.
Cocker was named in the New Zealand Under-20s team which played a three-test series in Auckland in October.
It’s been a rapid netball rise for the Invercargill 18-year-old and he is showing no signs of slowing down.
Cocker has now been named in the open men’s New Zealand Development team to head to Singapore in December for the Nations Series Men’s Netball Cup.
“It’s kind of escalated a wee bit,” Cocker said on his progress through the netball ranks.
“Both of my selections to represent NZ came as a bit of a shock considering the number of amazing players there is throughout the country.”
While it has all happened quickly for Cocker, don’t be mistaken. There’s been a fair bit of work involved.
In June he attended a national high-performance camp that included some of the country’s top men’s netballers.
There have been expectations laid out that Cocker has had to meet to book that ticket to Singapore with the New Zealand Development team.
“There was a minimum Yo-Yo [fitness] score we had to reach, which was 16.1, just to be eligible to be selected in one of the [national] teams.
“For the four or five months leading up to the camp we had to send in monthly Yo-Yo [results] just on our progress.”
That hard work is continuing for Cocker to ensure he will be ready to go for the tournament in December.
He has one final significant playing hit out before then, which will be with the Invercargill men’s team at the nationals in September.
Outside of that, there will be plenty of training by himself to prepare for his biggest netball assignment yet.
Cocker juggles his netball commitments with his study at Otago University where he is working towards a Bachelor in Applied Science.
Netball traditionally has been regarded as a female-dominated sport, but the men’s game has made massive strides in recent years, in terms of profile, standards, and opportunities available.
“The current competitiveness of men’s netball is awesome and it’s constantly growing as more people get involved in the game and grow a love for the game.”
Cocker said he had many people to thank for helping him get to the point he now gets to represent his country.
All of his coaches and managers are included in the mix, and most importantly his parents Megan and Dale as well.
“Without them running around after me and lending me the odd dollar to head away to a tournament all this wouldn’t have been made possible.”
The Nations Series Men’s Netball Cup in Singapore will run from December 4 to 9.