If there’s a reason Queenstown Cricket Club’s on a good wicket, with flourishing numbers and ever-rising young talent, coach Emma Campbell’s a large part of the answer.
Ask 16-year-old prodigy Hugo Bogue, probably the youngest ever century-maker at the national under-19s — "if it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t be where I am".
His mum, Angela Spackman: "I think she is a huge asset for our community ’cos her passion for the game gets lots of people involved.
"She makes it fun, she gets excited about it so she gets other people excited about it, and she works tirelessly to make things happen in our region."
And club president Daniel Gibbons: "Her passion for children’s and women’s cricket has been amazing, and been extremely important to our success [like being New Zealand Cricket’s ‘club of the year’ in 2018]."
"She goes above and beyond, and the kids just love her because she genuinely cares — she just reaches them on their level."
Growing up in South Canterbury, Campbell was "really into rugby" and didn’t start playing cricket till "very, very late", at 16, when star White Fern, Timaru-raised all-rounder Haidee Tiffen, and then-White Ferns coach Mike Shrimpton visited her school.
Tiffen introduced her to the difficult art of legspinning.
"I never really had any coaching other than this first moment." But she stuck at it — she recruited friends for a school team which won the South Canterbury B grade comp, made the South Canterbury team and then the Canterbury development or ‘B’ side.
Meanwhile, after high school Campbell undertook a two-year polytech course in sports coaching, followed by a development officer’s role in South Canterbury including golf and tennis coaching.
After a season playing and coaching in Holland — preceding further stints in England and China — she made the Canterbury Magicians side and was ‘bowler of the year’.
However, the coach wouldn’t reselect her after she took a short coaching stint in Oamaru, so, with support from another White Fern, Katey Martin, she joined the Otago Sparks, playing 70-odd games for them over eight seasons.
In 2010, then-Ferns coach Gary Stead — now coaching the Black Caps — selected her for NZ for a one-dayer against Australia at the Adelaide Oval.
Unfortunately, Campbell tore rib cartilage during the game and was flown home — she cried on the flight home.
She got to play Australia again, in Invercargill, but never got another call-up.
Having taken a coaching job in Invercargill, "I think Gary wanted me in Christchurch where I could train, and from there it [her White Ferns career] just sort of faded out".
Campbell says she was never an athlete or a big turner of the ball, but puts her success down to consistency.
After four years in Southland she moved to Queenstown 10 years ago, initially working odd jobs like stacking milk shelves to get by.
Senior Queenstown captain Fraser Wilson spotted her in the nets and nabbed her for his men’s side — "[batters] definitely tried to smash me but I think I was successful with a few wickets".
After starting with some after-school coaching, her company, Coaching Solutions, was contracted for coaching and admin duties by the Queenstown Cricket Club.
In recent years she’s also been junior club administrator for the Arrowtown and Wakatipu rugby clubs, though she’s since shed the latter role.
Campbell says she loves coaching cricket — "I like to think I’m kind of a professional at recruiting people into the game".
"I think what keeps me excited and passionate is the potential we’ve got here" — including the potential one day for clubrooms and an indoor centre.
She speaks her mind, "probably not in the right ways, at times", but only to try and advance the game here.
She’s kept ties with Otago women’s cricket, managing the Sparks for a season and then coaching the U19s for the past two. Having now lived longer in Queenstown than anywhere else, the 42-year-old recently bought at Hanley’s Farm "with a very big mortgage attached", so expects to stay a while yet.
"I don’t really want to celebrate my successes, but even the little comment from Hugo and getting messages [from other talented players] makes it seem I’ve made a difference."
As for her coaching philosophy, Campbell says it’s about "creating memories".
"I’ve got people from all over the world, they never went on to become great players, but loved those memories, saying, like, ‘oh god, Emma, that festival day was fun’."
