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Thelma Turner

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New Zealand netball player (1929–2023)

Thelma Turner
Personal information
Full name Thelma Mary Turner (née Trask)
Born (1929-05-31)31 May 1929
Hāwera, New Zealand
Died 26 September 2023(2023-09-26) (aged 94)
Palmerston North, New Zealand
Height 1.56 m (5 ft 1 in)
School Palmerston North Technical College
Spouse Bruce Turner ​ ​(m. 1956; died 2010)​
Netball career
Playing position(s): GS
Years National team(s) Caps
1948 New Zealand 1

Thelma Mary Turner (née Trask; 31 May 1929 – 26 September 2023) was a New Zealand netball player. She played as goal shoot in the New Zealand team in the second Test match against the touring Australian team in 1948.

Early life

Turner was born Thelma Mary Trask on 31 May 1929, and grew up in Hāwera and then Palmerston North. She was educated at Palmerston North Technical College, where she was girls' joint athletics champion in 1944.

Netball career

Trask was a member of the Manawatu provincial netball team from 1944, playing in the forward third of the court. She was also a Manawatu basketball representative from 1944.

At the 1946 national netball championships in Tauranga, Manawatu shared the national title with Auckland, each winning six of their seven matches, with Trask reported as giving a "bright scoring display". At the conclusion of the tournament, Trask was included in the North Island team that defeated the South Island 22–19 in the interisland match.

In 1948, Trask was selected in the New Zealand national team for the second Test against the touring Australian team in New Plymouth. The Australian team was victorious, winning 44–13. The match was the only occasion on which Trask represented New Zealand, because the New Zealand side for the three-Test series was selected on a regional basis, and New Zealand did not play another international game until 1960. With a height of 1.56 metres (5 ft 1 in), Trask is one of the shortest women ever to play for the Silver Ferns.

Trask retired as from playing netball and basketball in 1956.

Later life and death

In 1956, Trask married Bruce Turner, a New Zealand field hockey player at the 1956 and 1960 Olympic Games, and Central Districts cricket representative. The couple went on to have three children. Bruce Turner died in 2010.

In 2019, Thelma Turner appeared at a netball Test match between New Zealand and Trinidad and Tobago in Palmerston North, tossing the coin before the start of the game.

Turner died in Palmerston North on 26 September 2023, at the age of 94.

References

  1. ^ "Thelma Turner". Netball New Zealand. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  2. ^ Heagney, George (2 June 2019). "Former New Zealand netballer Thelma Turner recalls historic 1948 test against Australia". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  3. "Secondary education". Manawatu Times. Vol. 69, no. 97. 27 April 1944. p. 4. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  4. "Manawatu basketball". Manawatu Times. Vol. 69, no. 189. 11 August 1944. p. 2. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  5. "Rep. basketball". Manawatu Times. Vol. 69, no. 245. 16 October 1944. p. 6. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  6. "Tauranga team's fine record". Bay of Plenty Times. Vol. 75, no. 14153. 2 September 1946. p. 2. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  7. "Runaway win". Otago Daily Times. No. 26863. 30 August 1948. p. 7. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  8. Lampp, Peter (9 April 2010). "Tributes flow for hockey, cricket legend". Manawatu Standard. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
  9. "Manawatū's 1948 Silver Ferns star has died". Manawatū Standard. 2 October 2023. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  10. "Thelma Turner obituary". Manawatū Standard. 2 October 2023. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
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