SPORT
SETTING THE STANDARDS
ByJill McIntosh
I STARTED PLAYING NETBALL IN GRADE 3 WHILE GROWING UP IN PERTH. WE HAD A VERY ENTHUSIASTIC TEACHER COME COACH WHO PUT TOGETHER A LITTLE TEAM WHICH PROGRESSED FROM GRADE 3 TO GRADE 7. IN HIGH SCHOOL I JOINED THE JAY DEES CLUB INSTEAD AND PLAYED THERE FOR A FEW YEARS. AT 15, OUR TEAM DIDN’T HAVE A COACH, SO I LED THEM, IN A NAÏVE WAY. IT WASN’T A COMPLETE DISASTER AND THAT’S HOW I GOT INTO COACHING. I ENDED UP COACHING ALONGSIDE PLAYING, RIGHT THROUGH MY CAREER FOR MOST OF THE TEAMS I WAS INVOLVED IN.
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e formed a few clubs along the way. The main club I played with was Bull Creek Netball Club where I was a player and coach for a few teams. We had dedicated parents who supported us, and we made it to the top grade, competing in a few grand finals, always just beaten for the win each year! Towards the end of my playing career, the competition was reshuffled from
club-based at the local centre to a district-based state league competition and I ended up playing for the Coastal Raiders. We finally won the Grand Final that year, in my last year before moving to Canberra. In 1990, I was appointed coach of the Australian Under 21 Team. Most of the players were based at the AIS, so I was given the opportunity to go to Canberra www.coachinglife.com.au