WHAT does it take to coach a group of young local league tag players with an average age of 19 years?
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Cootamundra Bullettes coach Kristen Glanville and co-coach and manager Danni Visser are confident, personable, skilled, experienced in the sport and determined to win the premiership in 2015.
The Bullettes will start the season with a bang, as there are three knockout competitions planned for March, and as the 2014 Murrumbidgee Championship victors, they will return to the knockout competition as favourites.
Glanville expressed that the girls are itching to defeat their greatest rival, the Wagga Brothers.
“Wagga Brothers are a side we look up to, they’ve won 60 games in a row.
“If it rains we say, ‘the Brothers train in the rain, so we train in the rain.’”
It’s a close competition; the Bullettes could almost taste victory in a recent game against the Brothers, leading with five minutes to go, and beaten by four points.
Glanville and Visser say that this will fuel their pursuit in 2015
“It’s good to be aggressive and hungry for it,” Visser said.
“We want to win, we turn up to win.”
Every coach walks a fine line, being a friend, a source of encouragement, an ally and also being a disciplinarian.
Glanville and Visser believe that the team respects authority the most when they are being led authentically.
“It’s a lot of fun at training, everyone seems to get along together really well, we’ve all played touch together too, so that helps,” Glanville said.
Visser is the self-professed “bad cop” who is not afraid to have a firm word with players.
Bulldogs star player and co-coach Aaron Byrne assisted in 2014 teaching new skills and techniques at around a dozen training sessions.
“Towards the end we felt like we were going over the same things, he just brought that edge,” Glanville said.
Glanville and Visser are welcoming “fresh faces” onto the team next season, and are hoping to recruit a number of girls who played in the juniors competition in 2014.
“There are some really good juniors we’ve seen around,” Visser said.
“They’ve all got potential so we really want them to come on our side.”
In past seasons numbers have dropped due as keen players have moved from town to commence universtiy studies, however Glanville believes that this year the club will retain the majority of players from last season.
