By Amelia Barnes
Vanessa Saunders is passionate about supporting young local people to achieve their greatest potential, which she does every day as a netball coach.
She’s the Castlemaine community’s go-to person for navigating pathways, ensuring all the area’s ambitious players, coaches, and umpires are aware of and exposed to every netball opportunity possible.
Saunders’ rise through the Netball Victoria coaching pathway is a testament to her dedication, talent, and love of the game.
Her coaching backstory is a familiar one, which started when her friend’s daughter began playing netball. A then 19-year-old Saunders put up her hand to coach, relishing the opportunity to impart her playing knowledge and contribute to the team’s progression throughout the season.
“There were really little dots, and it was just really good to be able to engage with them and give something back at that stage,” Saunders said.
“I really enjoyed it and was happy to do a couple more teams in that association.”
Close to 20 years later, and in addition to running her own bookkeeping business and raising a family, Saunders is now at netball seven days a week throughout the season.
“I do 30-plus hours a week sometimes with my coaching, and that’s not including prep.”
Saunders is currently the head junior development squad coach for Castlemaine District Netball Association; the head coach of Eaglehawk Football Netball Club’s 17&Under netball team playing in the Bendigo Football Netball League; and a State Titles coach for the North Central region.
As part of her role at Castlemaine District Netball Association, Saunders has coached several female teams at Netball Victoria’s Northern Association Championships over the years.
It was a career highlight to lead the association’s very first 17&U male team at the 2023 competition, which finished runners up.
This achievement was especially significant for Castlemaine’s boys who don’t have comparative male-only competitions to play in locally.
“That was a highlight, because one of those boys has been with me since he was in Under 11s and I said to him, ‘As soon as there's a male comp, I'll get you there’ – and we did.”
That boy was Jack Davidge, who is now part of Victorian Men’s and Mixed Netball Association’s (VMMNA) 17/U development team, and an umpire in the Northern Talent Academy.
“For me, to have someone be this tiny little dot and who is now progressing through [the pathway] ... that's more of an achievement than your medals,” Saunders said.
Castlemaine’s first Association Championships male team also included Oliver Ryan, who is now in the Victorian 17/U male netball team and was recently invited to 17&Under Australian male selection camp.
Following the success of Castlemaine District’s male team at Association Championships, Saunders then coached the first male team to represent the Northern Central region at the State Titles.
“I just love seeing the boys play and again giving them the opportunity from this region to go down and play in Melbourne against the best as we did at State Titles,” she said.
“I'd love to have wins all the time or come out with premierships, but seeing the progress or the growth in your players, that's the big thing.”
Most of Saunders’ coaching positions are done on a voluntary basis to benefit the community. Fielding teams at Association Championships and State Titles, for example, is an important step that allows the region’s local players and umpires to be potentially talent identified (TID) for further representative teams in the Netball Victoria pathway.
“To have so many players get TID… we've given them the opportunity to be seen,” she said.
“We've had a lot that have come through the pathways and played in Victorian teams or are playing in Victorian Netball League (VNL) sides now.
“For me as a coach, that's always a good thing … We've done the right thing with them, we're getting them out there, and they're getting exposure.”
Close to 20 years into her coaching career, Saunders continues to develop and seek out mentoring from those more experienced.
Coaches who have contributed to her progression so far include Betty McComb who Saunders has assisted at State Titles; Netball Victoria president Carol Cathcart who Saunders has observed coaching locally; and Bendigo Academy of Sport netball head coach Melissa Ryan who has provided valuable feedback over the years.
She’s also benefited from the support and calm head of Melanie Oldfield, who is her assistant coach at Eaglehawk.
Saunders encourages more people to consider coaching as a rewarding and fun way of being involved in their local community that helps local athletes and officials to succeed.
“Whether that's just getting them on the court locally, or if that's helping guide them to be under the best coaches and going as far as they can, it's just about giving them every opportunity.”
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