A Grade return
Taylors Lake netballers will compete in the Horsham District league’s top level this season after an A Grade hiatus.
The Lakers, with their pre-christmas appointed A Grade coach, will have a chance to test themselves against the league’s best players this season.
Club president Travis Mackley praised the early work of former Nhill netballer Lydia Schneider and said new playing recruits would add depth across the club’s A Grade and B Grade sides in 2023.
Schneider said the senior squad had jumped straight into two pre-season training nights a week, with complementing Saturday fitness sessions.
“Training has been intense and our players are all enjoying the challenge,” she said.
“We are involved with Wimmera parkrun on Saturday mornings, too, just trying to build that base fitness for the season.
“We did The Pinnacle walk at Halls Gap as a team – hoping to spend time together and prepare for A Grade again.”
Schneider said she was happy with player retention in the off-season and apart from a couple
young players who relocated for tertiary study, most players had returned for the 2023 season.
She said players were ‘unphased’ by a step-up in opposition quality, with the squad re-entering A Grade competition this season.
“Our young players have all spent considerable time playing senior-level netball for a few seasons, so they are young, but experienced,” she said.
“Most of our recruits have come from outside the Wimmera, while some have accompanied their partners who joined the senior football team this season
“One player has come from the Wimmera league, Bianca Kettle from Ararat – she is really confident and has been a great on-court leader with us this preseason.”
Schneider said her assistant coach Chloe Kelm had been an integral leader at training and was ‘shooting them from everywhere’.
“It will be a coach’s dream if she can sink them on Saturday, like she has been,” she said.
She said team selections would start this week, and from that, she could start to design a potential final make-up of the club’s A Grade re-entry.
“We will look at the players after selections and assess how we want to play from there,” she said.
“It is important we play to our players’ strengths, so our game style will become evident closer to the season.”
Schneider said she was not concerned with any finals aspirations this early in the season.
She said because senior netball remained a large time commitment, she wanted her players to ‘enjoy’ their time at the club.
“Netball takes up so much of our week – for the next six months, at least,” she said. “I want our squad to thoroughly enjoy playing.
“I want them to come back next season, while getting as much out of this year as they possibly can.”