Where Carly Webster goes, young players follow.
Her coaching career started with four years at Bonbeach Football Netball Club, then shifted to Mt Eliza to be closer to her Mornington Peninsula home for another four, and most recently to Chelsea following a 2019 sabbatical. And 15 players have joined her on the journey. The whole way.
The difference this year was the sabotage wrought by the coronavirus pandemic - and the fact that the 60 players in her care, ranging from 17-and-under up to A-grade, did not play a game.
Yet netball still played an important role in the lives of so many, and Webster’s efforts to keep her charges engaged and connected have been recognised with the prize for coaching excellence in the 2020 Netball Victoria Community Awards.
Chelsea Netball Club hailed her "integral role in the wellbeing of her squad and their families plus the wider community pre, post and during COVID lockdown in 2020. Her dedication and commitment went above and beyond any head coach role. She was an inspiration, motivator, best friend, teacher and role model and deserves the highest of recognition for her outstanding efforts to give back to her squad and wider community during these challenging times.’’
At just 34, Webster is an impressive example of doing something for the right reasons while finding a way to do the right things well.
“Culture is a really big thing for me as a coach, so I was really keen to make sure that we could build on what we had done in pre-season with getting everyone connected, and not lose that for the 2021 season,’’ she says.
“So that’s what drove my motivation to keep going. But I guess I’m most proud of the girls - the way they maintained motivation and stuck with the program.’’
Particularly in July, when, state government restrictions for Greater Melbourne ramped up to stage four and a window of opportunity (and, for Chelsea's netballers, full-on training) slammed shut.
“I went to the girls and just said ‘I’ll be guided by you guys now in terms of what you need’,’’ says Webster. “I didn’t want netball to apply pressure with Covid in 2020, but they all said ‘no, we want to keep going, cos this is actually helping us get through Covid’.
“So that for me was a really good indication of the importance of all the connections that we’d built, but also how important having some routine and some structure was for them, as well. That was the biggest thing, I think.’’
That second lockdown was the toughest. The first, as hope still lingered that the season would begin, was navigated through a successful 12-week remote program when everyone was still motivated and driven.
“But the second time around I really thought that I’d lose them. I really thought that their motivation would drop off, and I was really conscious of netball playing a big part in maintaining their mental health, so I wanted to make sure that they could buy into the program and that it was actually benefitting them, as well.’’
And, importantly, too, its impact on the coach?
“It definitely kept me motivated. Being accountable to 60 girls and having to be their leader and help them cope it definitely made Covid easier for me, as well, because it gave me something to focus on, and it made me look after my mental health to make sure that I could be in a good position to look after others.
“And it probably reinforced for me how much I do love it and that it’s not necessarily anything to do with playing a game. It’s probably more the impact that you can have on younger people from a life perspective - and as a person, not just an athlete. So it probably reinvigorated that for me.’’
Webster has already coached at 19/U level in the Bupa VNL for the Peninsula Waves and Southern Saints as well as at state title level for Dandenong Valley under 17s. She has also coached herself, officially, while running the A-Grade programs at Bonbeach and Mt Eliza, but that has never been a role she has relished.
“Not the most fun job,’’ she laughs, happily signing up for "a run around" in B Grade next season. “I don’t enjoy being a player-coach, at all, but sometimes you have to take one for the team!’’
Yet what seems like an impressive CV from the outside never feels like work, or effort, for this is about enjoyment.
So what, in particular?
“I love the game. Obviously I’ve played for a long time and I probably am a little bit netball obsessed. I do just love the game and just figuring out the intricacies of it and how it all works and things like that.
“Probably over recent years I’ve really enjoyed most just the influence that you can have on younger people.’’
Like those from Bonbeach who were mid-teens when Webster arrived, and have travelled with her ever since. Could there be a better endorsement?
“They’re now 20 or 21, and to see them develop and grow and value your input in their sport and in their life is a really rewarding thing, so I probably value that the most - just to see growth in people as athletes and also as people,’’ she says.
“The funny thing is that I have never asked even one of them to come with me; wherever I’ve gone to, I’ve just always seemed to get those messages come pre-season time of ‘oh, have you got any spots for me at Chelsea or at Mt Eliza or wherever?’
“And I’m all about being inclusive and giving people opportunities to play sport, so I always try to squeeze them in where I can. It’s nice, because you do build those relationships and friendships.’’
A part-time sports therapist for the Richmond Football club for the past nine years, who also works in football’s under 18 NAB Cup, Webster is passionate about athlete wellbeing and brings to netball the skills from her “actual day job” in the workplace mental health field.
And after the unique challenges Covid brought to this year, the next one should be a doddle.
“Definitely - 2021 should be an absolute breeze in my eyes! We’re set up for a really good season with the work that everyone put in in 2020 and I’m confident that we can have an awesome season based on what I’m seeing in our last six weeks of actual real training.’’
Written by Linda Pearce
