Club calls for coaches on court

MEMBERS of Special Olympics Ballarat Basketball are putting the callout for new coaches.

With two people currently split between about 15 athletes, Special Olympics Ballarat basketball manager Nicole Strickland said the group is desperately in need to fill the new positions.

“We need more than we have,” she said. “We’re trying to expand the club and we need more coaches to do that.

“We’ve got about 15 people playing right now but we’ve got a few more coming so we really need at least four coaches running things.

“I’m even looking at training to step up and do it myself if I have to. We’ve got B, C, and D grade at the moment.”

Prior to the loss in coaches, the club had four main positions as well as an extra fifth person on hand, with the majority departing around the same time due to exams and other commitments.

The club practices on Sunday mornings at Sebastopol’s Phoenix College, and are looking to prepare for an upcoming state tournament to be held in Ballarat soon.

Ms Strickland said rebuilding the coaching team will help the club grow.

“We can split the players up into their actual grade once we have enough coaches,” she said.

“It’ll also help us to build the club more. I would love to get four or five teams running at once.

“At the moment it makes it hard because we have to have one coach doing B and C together and then the other does D by itself. We can’t pinpoint things right now and work on what the actual teams need.”

To express interest in coaching, email Strickland at [email protected].