Life is for living … at top speed, if you are Certificate in Health and Fitness graduate Shirley Mullany.

The 25-year-old mother of two littlies now works full time teaching four-year-olds at Kawakawa Mai Tawhiti School. It’s a job she adores, but is only a smidgen of how she fills her very busy days.

A keen sportswoman – and representative at touch, netball, waka ama, basketball and probably a few others she’s forgotten to mention – she is coach of the school’s senior A netball team, has restated the Tihirau Victory Club’s netball team, and first up helper for rubs, strapping and general organiser for the Tihirau Victory Club’s rugby team which is coached by her partner Moana Mato.

Mullaney grew up in Te Araroa, where she played just rugby through her primary school years. Then her dad made the big call to move the family to Gisborne, and suddenly there were a plethora of sports to choose from – so she did them all.

“People take things for granted sometimes.”

She and Mato made the decision to move their family back to the coast to let their young family “know just where home was”.

“It grounds them and it’s such an awesome place to grow up,” she says. “It’s also good to give a little back to the community.”

Mullaney thoroughly enjoyed her time studying at EIT Tairawhiti, where she also gained her Certificate in Business and Administration Level Four.

“I’ve studied at Victoria in Wellington and it is so much nicer to have smaller classes, with plenty of one on one tutoring and support. It was awesome..”

She’s now planning to get her degree in teaching, with no inclination to leave the coast until her own children are much older.