By Matt Fotia
Later this week Tasmania’s first Marie Little Shield team, the Emeralds, will hit the court in a landmark day for the state’s sporting body, under the guidance of experienced coach Rani Milne.
Milne is not just the coach of the team though. She is one of the main reasons the Emeralds are competing all.
Inspired by her own club's all-abilities side, she engaged Netball Tasmania in a broader conversation about all-abilities netball in the state.
“I personally got into it because our netball club, Kilburn in the STNA, wanted to start offering something in the all-abilities space,” Milne explained.
“I approached Netball Tasmania to see how we could work together, conversations started and then when they wanted to begin running some inclusion programs and asked if I’d be interested in running the Hobart sessions.”
Those Hobart inclusion sessions ran alongside similar sessions in Launceston as Netball Tasmania scoured the state for all eligible and interested athletes, before finally bringing together the Emeralds squad.
The process was a challenging one, but Milne, who has been coaching netball at various levels for a decade, cannot remember a role she has enjoyed more than this one.
“I’ve never had so much fun coaching netball in my life,” Milne said.
“Getting the Marie Little Shield team off the ground has been quite a bit of work for a lot of us.
“The inclusion sessions themselves we were able to be quite flexible and learn as we went along.
“All the initial fact finding, getting all our athletes checked and qualified, getting their skills up and getting them on the court has been a big learning curve.”
The Emeralds will debut at the Marie Little Shield this Friday.Coaching a side like the Emeralds requires nuance and has forced the knowledgeable Milne and her co-coach Jacinta Simeoni to change tact at times along the journey.
“We’ve had to rethink our approach sometimes and try different ways of getting our message across, which is the same with any group of athletes of course,” Milne stated.
“You need to find out if they learn by seeing it, or by doing it, or via an explanation.
“It’s also been important to remember we are teaching the basics, like catching, throwing and then moving and hopefully translating it into court sense.”
Skills aside, Milne and co have placed a huge importance on growing the connection within the squad to ensure each athlete keeps their love for the game alive.
“One number one focus has been to get the teamwork element going, getting everyone to connect has been key,” Milne said.
“We’ve been doing drills where everybody on the court cheers and everyone celebrates each other’s success, which is the most important thing, finding the joy in it.”
Tasmania’s debut Marie Little Shield match couldn’t be tougher, with the Emeralds set to play reigning champions Victoria on Friday morning, leaving Milne and co wary of what the post-game might look like for her troops.
But right now, the overriding emotion amongst the squad is one of pure excitement.
“They’re making playlists on Spotify and planning movie nights, they’re so excited,” Milne said.
“I expect we will see a lot of growth over the three days.
“We’ve got a tough draw with Victoria in our first game and there might be a few shocked faces, but the challenge for us will be managing how they deal with what comes along and where we go from there.
“I know they’ll get better with every game.”
