Jane Baker (McGlashan)
Jane was the youngest of a very talented sporting family. During her five years she was very involved with netball and tennis, was the Kiwi House Sports Captain and was a School Prefect. Gymnastics was also a sport close to her heart and this became a passion later in life.
On leaving school with good qualifications Jane headed to Auckland Secondary Teachers’ College and graduated with a Diploma in Home Economics. She taught at Avondale College for three years and then had a 10 year break to care for her young family. During those 10 years, Jane did regular stints at Otorohanga College. For the last 18 years Jane has been on the staff at Tauranga Girls’ College. Her family are now all adults and Jane is proud to be a grandmother!
Jane has been a “worker” and not too much of a “traveller” although they did manage a trip to Europe to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary and is now planning trips to Hawaii and next year to the UK to visit their daughter.
Jane’s love of gymnastics led her to gaining many qualifications in that area and she has coached for 20 plus years. She achieved NZ Level 2 status and has been a facilitator to primary schools delivering a programme to teachers for the use in their schools. She was on the Bay of Plenty Executive for ten years and held the position of Head of Male Technical and General Gymnastics. In these roles she was selected as a delegate at the NZA Conference for several years.
In 2000 Jane was chosen as BOP voluntary coach of the year which was chosen from all sports. She travelled to Wellington for the New Zealand final. The winner was chosen from 30 coaches and was able to attend any sporting event of their choice – sadly she didn’t get to the gymnastics at the Olympics.
Jane has also been involved in many school musical productions in the area of choreography and stage management. At the local theatre Jane does anything back stage – she doesn’t proclaim to be an actor or singer!
Her four children have also been involved in gymnastics with two of them competing seriously for a number of years. They have all qualified in their own fields with two becoming Engineers and working in the oil industry, one specializing in car parts and accessories and one a Theatre nurse. Her husband Mike has worked in Finance for many years and is now semi-retired and works tirelessly for the Food Bank.