Russells Creek A grade coach Hannah Van Zyl knows the win-loss column will eventually take care of itself but for now she is excited by the rapid growth of her squad.
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The first year Creek mentor has put together a brand new squad of players throughout the course of the Warrnambool and District league campaign and despite its challenges have managed to "click into place" and build momentum leading into next season.
Creek picked up a nice scalp - its third win of the season - on Saturday, July 20 against Old Collegians in torrid conditions for netball.
"It was the best game we've played as a team all season despite the horrid weather," Van Zyl said.
"From a coaching perspective I couldn't be happier with my girls. The improvement of the girls was really evident on Saturday in those conditions and how much they've gelled together.
"Everything the girls have worked on and what I've put in our group chat to work on, we've started to piece it all together."
Van Zyl, still very much in the infancy of her senior netball career herself, said it was amazing to watch some of her players improve each week.
"We've had a few new girls to the club like Chloe Hammond and Demi Holmes, they are two new faces and the way their games have improved over the course of the season has been phenomenal," she said.
"My goalies, Sophie Morton and Tahlee Dannatt have also worked really well together. There's just little things at training, even though I haven't been at training most of the year, we've been working on and it's been really evident.
"Even last Saturday at Allansford, they beat us by a lot but we were competitive, but it's not about winning or losing it's about how well we play as a team.
"We just want to keep competing each week and develop a strong side. Being a completely new side it's definitely starting to really click into place now."
Van Zyl, who is working towards joining the police force, described the playing conditions on the weekend as some of the most challenging she's played in.
She praised the team for adapting and changing up the game style to suit them.
"We did a lot of short, sharp passes and coming up to the ball because it was so slippery," she said.
"My shooters did an amazing job getting it go in because it was so windy."
Nick Creely
Sports reporter with The Standard
Sports reporter with The Standard
