Born in the Netherlands, Yvonne is a former netball coach and representative netball player. She played for the Silver Ferns from 1974 to 1983. She was coach of the Silver Ferns from 1997 to 2001, and coach of the Fijian national team from 2002 to 2003. 

 

In the 2002 Queen's Birthday Honours, Yvonne was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to netball, later updated to Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2019. Ruth was a coach mentor for the successful New Zealand U21s at the 2017 Netball World Youth Cup, and has previously been the performance manager in the Waikato Bay of Plenty Zone.

 

Yvonne is currently a netball commentator for Newstalk ZB Sport and has been a panel member and judge for the Trusts Sport Waitakere Excellence Awards for many years.