[1][2] Her father worked for the Post Office and the family lived in various towns in the North Island, including Hastings, Auckland, and Tauranga.

[1][2][4] Cox was a member of the New Zealand team at the 1991 World Netball Championships in Sydney, where the Silver Ferns finished as runners-up.

[7] Tanya Dearns was head coach of the Capital Shakers in 2001 and 2002, before moving to Napier in 2003 to become Netball Eastern regional manager.

[9] She then took up a position as general manager of the Napier Golf Club, before being appointed assistant coach of the Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic for the 2013 ANZ Championship season.

[14] Dearns was subsequently head coach of the UWS Sirens in Scotland, before moving to the Cairns Netball Association in Queensland as operations manager at the end of 2018.