FORMER Netball Fiji head coach Jenny Brazel is excited to share her netball knowledge with some of the Pacific nations most promising mentoring talent as she rolls out an inaugural PacificAus Sports coach immersion program.
Brazel, with the support of four mentor coaches, is leading the online coach development course for eight Pacific nations coaches, which will see them also travel to Brisbane for a week-long high performance camp and attendance at the Nissan State Titles in September.
The coaches, from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Samoa, are all at varying stages in their coaching careers, with some working with their relevant open international team while others are involved at an Under-21 level.
“We’ve had a couple of fairly informal online sessions so far, but they’re all very excited and beginning to feel more comfortable, and starting to ask questions,” Brazel said.
“We’re looking at a lot of different elements involved with being a coach, from nutrition and physios, to building team culture and understanding player load during competition.”
Brazel, who’s coached for more than 20 years within Netball Queensland and Netball Australia pathways, said she gets just as much out of her role as the coaches she’s developing.
“I always run with the theory of while you’re trying to climb the ladder, you pull two up with you,” she said.
“It’s that sense of helping someone else, giving back and helping others achieve something to move forward. When I was coming through, I was always really grateful to the coaches that helped me even though it was hard at times as you were coaching against them. I love coaching, that’s never changed.”
Netball Samoa CEO Rosemarie Lome said this is the first time her country has been offered an opportunity like this, at such an elite level.
“A lot of our attachments have been at the grassroots and development level, so high performance is a huge step up,” Lome said.
“It is aligned with the level of our players that have gone through our programs and are now ready to move to high performance. We are in sync. We’ll go in with a blank canvas and fill it up with strategies, then bring them back and localise them in our environment. A big faafetai tele lava to Netball Australia and Netball Queensland for this opportunity.”
The program’s manager in Netball Australia, Rowan Fajerman, said the aim is to create pathways for emerging Pacific athletes and coaches to benefit from high performance education, training and leadership development opportunities, as well as participating at high level Australian competitions.
“These opportunities will help prepare teams to qualify, compete and perform in key benchmark events, such as the Commonwealth Games and Netball World Cup,” Fajerman said.
“The immersion program is a key initiative in working towards and achieving the program objectives.”
The PacificAus Sports coach immersion program is made possible by the Australian Government (DFAT), Netball Australia and Netball Queensland.
Congratulations to the coaches selected in the program:
Lavelua Taulahi (TONGA)
Lusiana Vesikuru (FIJI)
Iliseva Vonobitabita Drasuna (FIJI)
Margaret Opina (PNG)
Oti Lasagavibau (PNG)
Ioane Iosefo (SAMOA)
Manuia Leuii (SAMOA)
Uinita Tauhalaliku (TONGA)
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