LOVE OF THE GAME REMAINS
A RUN of sleepless nights came to an end on Sunday for Corio Bay Stingrays coach Paul Hutchison, after his side ended a nine-game losing streak over second-placed Casey Cavaliers.
It’s been a tough seasonand-a-half for Hutchison at the Big V Championship club.
Just two wins in 22 games last season, the Stingrays secured their third victory in their 16th game on Sunday, taking Hutchison’s record to 5-37 in 42 games.
But the second-year coach says his passion for the sport has never faltered, despite the lack of wins.
“I love the game, played it a long time,” he said.
“I enjoy coaching and seeing young guys succeed and young guys improve.
“I’ve had sleepless nights after we get belted by somebody, that’s definitely an understatement.
“I was really happy for the guys and the club, but when you see what we were able to do on Sunday, it kind of infuriates you a little bit in regards to we should be doing this all the time, at least being that competitive and not allowing teams to get hold of us.
“I was extremely happy and excited for everyone, the coaches as well. It just shows you what we can do.”
Hutchison has tried to change his coaching method multiple times this season.
Having played a lot of basketball himself at Big V level, Hutchison put an immense amount of focus on scouting the opposition, but there came a point where he believed he was overloading his players.
“I find it a bit of an advantage because I played in the league for so long and know a lot of the players, so I’d spend a couple of days a week watching game film of different teams of how they run and how to guard it … and then I’ll go look at some of the individuals I know we need to do a little bit of work on,” he said.
“I felt midway through the season I was probably giving them a little bit too much information and we weren’t focusing on what we do well, but then that wasn’t working either, so I’ve gone back to that now.
“We kind of changed things up a little bit at training and doing a lot more individual skills stuff and we’re breaking the sessions down for our bigs and our guards, and a lot more defensive work as well, and we’ve done that for probably the last two weeks.”
The other big plus is the clean injury list, with 14 guys fighting for 12 spots.
Captain Steve Wiasak played just five minutes in the win over Casey, a sign of the Stingrays’ depth when at full flight.
Hutchison believes the Stingrays could finish the season full of running.
“I think so, and I go back to the fact we’ve got 14 healthy guys to choose from,” he said.
“Young Jacob Pupavac was back (from an ankle injury), think it was only his third game for the season, and played a really pivotal role for us defensively. And I think the guys played a lot more to the scout, which is something we’ve been asking them to do.
“It gave us a little bit of a boost on the weekend, so we’ll continue on that path and see if it holds the key for us.”