By JARROD POTTER
SEEKING a new challenge inspired Keysborough championship coach Craig Smethurst to switch across to the women’s team.
Smethurst, who led the Big V Youth League-2 Men to a 76-61 victory over Coburg, will now coach the Keysborough Big V women’s program as he hopes to push the Cougars up the Division 2 Women’s ladder following a lacklustre three-game-from-15, 2014 season.
The newly appointed women’s coach said the challenge of coaching the new senior team and pushing them up the ladder was motivation enough to make the change.
Keysborough women’s program went through three coaches in 2014 and Smethurst hopes to provide more stability for the team next season.
“It’s a new challenge for me – coaching the women and it’s a senior team as well,” Smethurst said.
“I saw the girls wanting to do a lot better and it was a tough situation to be in this year and a tough way to start for the team.
“I suppose I’ll be taking a lot of the culture and the processes we’ve had with the Youth League and senior men and transplant that to the women’s game.”
Smethurst’s charges are already training ahead of the new season – next March – highlighting how seriously the Cougars want to improve.
“If we put the right group of people on the court we’ll get success,” Smethurst said.
“We have a core group of seven-eight girls who are returning and have been training together and are straight back into it.
“Coming off the year they had, they don’t want to be complacent.”
The wish list for Smethurst at the recruiting table will be to gain some older talent as the Cougars struggled to have many in the line-up with significant experience in 2014.
Smethurst said leaving the Youth League Men’s team behind was a tough decision, but knows the team is in good hands with newly appointed coach Andre Solomons.
“We had a fantastic group – I said it after the finals it takes talent to be successful but the thing we have on top of that are great people,” Smethurst said.
“They all come from great families and great upbringings… that made it very easy to coach them.
“They generally respect each other on and off the court – really driven to succeed and they’d run through a brick wall for each other.”
Nathan Vogt was re-signed as BIG V Division-2 Men’s senior coach following the team’s fourth place finish after its elimination from the finals by eventual premiers’ Shepparton.
Keysborough is staying active in the off-season with two women’s teams in Division 1 of the Wednesday night competition Melbourne Metropolitan Basketball League (MMBL).
The Cougars are hosting try-outs for their 2015 teams with prospective players encouraged to attend.
For more information on dates and locations of the tryouts visit the Cougars website www.keysboroughcougars.com.au.
