Our People

Johann Timmer

Premier Boys Volleyball Coach

Playing career summary, plus highlights:

Rangitoto College Volleyball teams 2005-2009. University of Hawaii 2011-2014. NZ Mens Beach and Indoor since 2011. NZ Beach Tour Champ and MVP 2019. NZ Indoor Club Champion and MVP 2017 and 2018. NZ Interprovincial Champ and MVP 2017/18/19. Northern Moana NVL Team 2021.

Coaching career summary, plus highlights:

Rangitoto Premier Volleyball Coach 2018 - Present. 2nd, 7th, Covid, 1st at NZSS. 2nd, 2nd, 2nd and 1st Auckland Champs. Rangitoto Beach Volleyball Team - 2nd NZSS 2017 and 1st. 2018 Various Harbour teams and assistant roles NZ GDM Role - overseeing and working with all performance teams and camps.

Athletes you have coached that have gone on to higher honours:

Ryan Gunn - Georgetown University, NZ Under 23. Jarrod Ferguson - University of Mount Olive, Northern Moana, NZ Junior Men. Matty Bell - NZ Under 23 and Midlands Te Waiora. Nico Lietz - Long Beach State (verbal), Midlands Te Waiora, NZ Junior Men. Ethan Skelton - Central Pounamu and NZ Junior Men. Mitch Coulthurst - NZ Junior Men.

Coaching qualifications, or anything special we should know:

Volleyball NZ Game Development Manager - Delivery and lead of development camps, delivery of coaching courses. Attended Sport NZ Coach Development Courses.

Any special links to the school:

Student 2005-2009. Both brothers attended and my mother.

What do you love about coaching Rangitoto teams:

Connection, welcoming, sports are starting to acknowledge and work with each other, support from school and staff.

What you love about sport and or the sport you coach:

Fun, given me lifetime experiences, team based, never had a bad experience/trip.

Goals, aspirations, focus areas for your team/sport at the school:

Continue to build the programme to allow more athletes to be involved and experience what volleyball has to offer. To provide an opportunity for them to grow as people through sport and allow them to continue playing once they finish at the school.

Coaching philosophy or approaches to coaching:

Provide leadership, while guiding athletes in a positive direction allowing them to explore their own paths along the way. Helping them understand the importance of having a direction by setting goals and helping them achieve them. Empower athletes along the way so they can grow as people.

Any key coaching related/team related quote(s) that you might use:

``Figure out what's important, focus on what you can control``. ``We before me`` or ``RC before me``.

Any coach mentors you may have and why:

Milan Zarkovic - University of Hawaii assistant coach. He brings so much passion and knowledge but it’s never done as the expense of an athlete. He wants the best for you as a person and player.

Where do you work or what is your do full time job:

Volleyball NZ - Game Development Manager.

Anything else not covered above that you would like to include:

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to coach and the school for their support towards the volleyball programme and sports. Awesome to see the improvements and opportunities given to students to play sport at Rangitoto.

Yuuki Takahashi

Sport Performance Academy Blue Coach (Strength and Conditioning)

Kia ora team!
My name is Yuuki, and I’m excited to be joining Rangitoto whānau in the Sport Performance Academy the Strength and Conditioning Coach.
A little bit about me:
I was born and raised on the North Shore here in Auckland and attended Albany Senior High School. After high school, I headed to the U.S. to pursue my education and sporting career, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Arkansas Tech University in 2023. I'm now in my second year of a Master of Sport, Exercise and Health at AUT.
I’ve been coaching for over two years, working with a wide range of people—from toddlers to older adults—but I’ve recently focused more on strength and conditioning with youth athletes aged 12–18.
Growing up, I played a variety of sports, but baseball was my main passion. It’s taken me all over the world—from college baseball in the U.S. to representing New Zealand internationally. While I still play, I’m also deeply involved in coaching at my local club to help the next generation enjoy the same opportunities I’ve had.
Outside of sport, I love being outdoors—whether it’s hiking, fishing, or surfing, I’m always up for an adventure!
I’m really looking forward to meeting everyone and helping each of you work toward your goals. Let’s make it a great season!
See you soon,
Yuuki

Brooke Blair

Premier Girls Basketball Coach

Bio to come...

Andi Liu

Fencing Coach

Hi, I’m Andi. I enjoy the process of learning and teaching, guiding a class of fencers to develop and ask tactical questions, being curious to try things and refine things with their clubmates and coaches. The fencers I coach have an earlier tactical understanding and a feeling for variability and adaptability. In the past two years the students have had a few top 8 regional results, fencing well against opponents who have trained for longer, which I hope provides some confidence in my approach.

My experience is internationally-recognised this year with me receiving an Oceania-region coaching qualification (OFMA L2 Epee), to cap off over a hundred hours of professional development under a particular Italian head coach Enrico Di Ciolo with a unique “Montessori-style” educational philosophy, two years of French school (GFM) coaching courses and some mentoring under Martin Brill OLY, and about a hundred hours of lessons from former German pentathlete and previous South African and Mexican national coach Paul Hentschel in his delivery of the Tauberbischofsheim methodology. I received a SportNZ scholarship to attend the 8th International TGfU conference and can confirm my constraints-led approaches centering on tactical understanding of the game from the very beginning, follows modern best practices in how I design the learning environment and progressively provide the learning opportunities for gradually transferring my fencing experience. I have observed and fenced fencers trained in all these methodologies at regional and international competitions, so I understand how to coach fencers against common opponents who developed in those learning environments. Fencing coaching is neat in that tactical depth of experience and understanding as a fencer does transfer over as a coach within some frameworks - particularly in the Di Ciolo school. I have NZ team experience in international competitions - including world cups and zonal championships in epee and sabre - and NZ national circuit medals as a fencer in all three weapons in individual and team, so I have few blind spots in terms of fencing experience. I also refereed up to national level – and completed two Oceania Fencing Confederation referee seminars by head FIE referee Irina Knysch.

Teresa Russell

Director of Netball, Premier Netball Assistant Coach, Year 10 Netball Development Coach

Tēna Koutou katoa
Ko Rangiahua to maunga
Ko wainui to awa
Ko tainui te waka
Ko ngai tai te iwi
Ko Teresa taku ingoa

Kia ora! It is with excitement that I join Rangitoto College as the new Director of Netball. I have been given the opportunity to showcase my dedication to a sport I have loved since I was 7 years old. I have been in the club Premier space for over 10 years, coached U18 representatives and been involved in primary, intermediate and college netball. My commitment to netball, both as a coach and player allows me to create opportunities for our coaches and athletes to thrive by fostering an environment where they can explore pathways in netball. As a passionate and motivated leader, I aim to work alongside a great sport department, ensuring every athlete, coach, manager and umpire has a chance to reach their full potential in a sport they love.

Nathan Banks

1st XI Premier Girls Cricket Coach. Sport Performance Academy Cricket Coach

My cricket journey started as a player, and though my playing career was short, it was impactful. I proudly represented Harbour at all levels and, in 2014, was part of the Auckland U17 team that won nationals, a definite highlight of mine. After high school, I transitioned straight into coaching.

The bulk of my early coaching career was with the Rangitoto 1st XI Boys from 2016-2021. A significant achievement during that time was earning promotion into the Premier Grade in 2020. More recently, I've shifted my focus to girls' and women's cricket. I've been coaching the Rangitoto 1st XI Girls since 2019, and currently also lead the East Coast Bays Reserve Women's team and the North Harbour U17 Girls. A true highlight has been the rapid ascent of our girls' program at Rangitoto, going from no team at all in 2018 to three teams in 2024, including several North Harbour representatives.

I've had the privilege of coaching athletes who have gone on to higher honours, including:

Dylan Taylor (NZ U19)
Isaac Bird (Auckland 'A')
Dion Laban-Jeffries (Auckland 'A')
Jess Canty (North Districts 'A')
Beyond direct coaching, I've dedicated a significant amount of time to growing the girls' game at school, club, and representative levels. This has been incredibly rewarding, seeing us go from zero girls' teams to potentially three at Rangitoto, establishing a Senior Women's team for the first time at my club (ECB), and in 2023, running the first-ever Harbour Girls Winter Academy for representative cricketers.