Michelle Cockie named Town of Port Hedland Community Citizen of the Year

Fresh off the back of winning coach of the year at the Hedland Sports Awards, primary school teacher and trailblazing netball coach Michelle Cockie has been named Hedland’s community citizen of the year. Lauded for the work she has done in the local netball community, Ms Cockie was in 2021 named assistant coach of the U14 West Australian Indigenous All Stars netball team, before taking over as head coach just a month later. Ms Cockie said it was overwhelming when she first received the coaching role. “By the end of all of this, I will walk away with a wealth of knowledge from a coaching perspective and a wealth of knowledge of coaching the Indigenous girls,” she said. “The biggest reason I want to do this is to be able to come back and teach our Hedland girls, especially the Aboriginal girls, and lead them in the pathway of WA Netball. “I’m hoping to bring back what strategies I learnt back into the Hedland Netball Association.” Presented by Mining and Pastoral MLC Stephen Dawson at the annual Australia Day citizenship awards, Ms Cockie stood alongside Youth Community Citizen of the Year Beau Keller and Active Citizenship award winner Lisa’s Kangaroo Retreat.