New Colac women’s basketball coach Todd Klein is hopeful that pressure for spots could see the Lady Kookas climb the ladder in season 2024.
The team will aim to climb off the bottom of the ladder following its return to the Country Basketball League last season.
And Klein, who will be assisted by Brian Menzies this season, said the amount of interest to be involved had been a good start.
“I’m happy,” he said.
“It’s been great to see the number of players keen to get involved.
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Where To Buy“We’ve had to select a team this season, we’re able to pick based on our core values and how we want to put a team together.
“But it’s always tough to leave people out.”
Colac’s women’s team has seven new faces to CBL this season, six of whom have graduated from the club’s junior program.
Among them are Darcy Permezel, Lily Fountain, Jess Dellar, Ruby Hall, Chloe Hay and Isobel Scott, while Nikki Clover has crossed from Timboon.
Players returning are club champion Indi Cameron, skipper Millie Sibley and experienced trio Tess Lourey, Emily Jansen and Erica Gleeson.
“One of our main goals during try-outs was around commitment,” Klein said.
“I think in the past we’d struggled to get numbers to training but I think the lowest number we’ve had at training has been six, which is pretty good considering the netball season was still going.
“I think a little of that has been the ‘Brian Menzies effect’, he’s got such a great connection with a lot of these players so they were keen to get involved knowing he was a part of it.”
Klein said the Lady Kookas would look to use their speedy and athleticism this season, kicking off with Saturday’s season-opener against Mount Gambier in Colac.
“Brian and I have similar coaching styles,” he said.
“We want to attack the rim, but also be a highly defensive team that gets out on fast breaks.
“We’ll focus more on guidelines, rather than set plays, to hopefully find ways to get open looks, because we just want the girls to play basketball.”
Coming off a one-win season in 2023-24, Klein said improvement would be Colac’s main goal this summer.
But he said there was no reason why the current group couldn’t climb the standings this season.
“As coaches, the goal for us is just to get the most out of the girls,” he said.
“If that takes us to finals, that would be awesome, but it’s all about what they want to get out of the season.”