President update
Time again to give you an update on our club's status.
First I wish to thank and acknowledge the work that Lana contributed to our girls program. It was a sad moment yesterday when she informed me that due to work commitments she could no longer coach her girls team. I did not have the opportunity to thank her as no sooner had she told me and I needed to address other issues. I first met Lana in a coaching course we were doing. Identifying her talents I tried to convince her to join Newlands but true to her character she chose to stay with the club she was then with. I was excited when she later joined us because I knew she was the person who could build our girl's program. Our girls program is very strong at the moment, we have an enormous amount of girls playing for us. We now have several girl's team coaches working with Liz to build our club. But to Lana I give a big thank you, you will be missed and we hope that you continue to play in our ladies team and stay a member of the Newlands Basketball Club.
With Lana's resignation I am looking for a replacement coach. I will not rush in and appoint the first person. I need to get a coach that will suit the ability and personality of the girls. I am also looking for more coaches for next season. We will have positions available in our younger age groups. I plan to enter 4 under 8 teams next season. Currently we have 2 teams that I coach with Belinda and Daphne's assistance. But we need another 3 coaches. There may be other teams that require coaches also. Our growth is enormous as are the opportunities we are providing. Not everyone is cut out to coach, the work can be hard at time but the rewards are very satisfying.
You should now be preparing for our finals. They are just around the corner. Good luck to you all. Our success in the past has been very good. Last year half of our teams played in the grand finals. Overall a third of our teams won their grand finals. I don't know if we can match those results this season but enjoy yourselves and any thing can happen.
This season we have focused on our building our girls & under 8s teams while starting adult teams. The adults teams paly on a Tuesday night providing opportunities for parents, coaches, friends and some of our older juniors. After a slow start all 3 teams are doing well. The ladies are on top of their ladder while both men's team had strong wins last week.
We are a young club and our growth is exciting. We are way beyond where we thought we would be when we started the club. We are one of the biggest club at Coburg and growing. Keep up the good work. I am extremely proud of each of you. We have a lot of new players watching our games and coming to training. Remember to be good role models as you never know when or who is watching.
There is more I could and most likely should add but I will save it for our next newsletter.
Enjoy the day
Your President
Wilton McDonald
