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Opals Coach a
Stirling Appointment
One of the most successful women's
national team programs in Australian sport has entered unchartered waters for the first
time in a decade.
No longer at the coaching helm is Tom Maher who had coached the national team since 1992.
During his tenure, Maher led the team to many titles including a bronze medal at the 1998
world championships, a bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and a silver medal at the
Sydney 2000 Olympics, the best Olympic finish by any Australian women's basketball team.
In December 2000 Maher stepped down from his job and headed to the lucrative Women's
National Basketball Association competition in the United States where he is coaching the
Washington Mystics.
Now, with new coach Jan Stirling appointed in January, the Opals are faced with a
different coaching style. And the new coach_ Well, she is faced with the challenge of
keeping team members who, through much of the success that has come to the team, are now
highly sought after in international leagues.
Stirling is no stranger to the game, having herself represented Australia in the national
squad from 1974 to 1978 including the 1975 World Championships in Colombia. In a coaching
capacity, she led the Adelaide Lightning to four Women's National Basketball League (WNBL)
championships in the 1990s. She has posted at 131-44 record in the WNBL, was coach of the
year in 1993 and assistant coach of the Opals since 1995.
Her appointment to the national coaching job marks the first time a former Opals player
has been named as head coach and she is the first woman to hold the top job. Stirling
however, puts no great stock in that statistic.
'Historically if you look at the time up until Tom's tenure, there weren't too many
females putting up their hand for the main job. They had to consider their family
situation and their career paths were disjointed. It's not a 9 to 5, 38-hour-a-week job.
Before I took up the Lightning job I was with the Commonwealth Bank for 20 years in
lending and marketing and they were very supportive of my basketball commitments, terrific in fact. But not
every woman is in that position.'
These
days, basketball is a lucrative sport and the person in the top job has a massive support
team with technological assistance, travel and budgets to consider. It's a far cry from
the days when Stirling and her fellow players were told to sell 800 dozen lamingtons to
fund a trip.
'It's a different game now. The players are bigger and stronger. The game attracts
athletes, athletes who are taught how to play basketball. I wouldn't say that the
intensity has changed and fundamental skill development is still paramount, but these days
they are full time basketballers who have greater time to work on individual skills.'
And as full-time basketballers, the Opals players are trying to make a living out of
playing the game. Now, more than ever, they're succeeding, with up to 21 Australian
players slated to play in the Women's National Basketball Association in America, the most
lucrative women's basketball league in the world.
All of this would be good news to Stirling, if it didn't make her job as coach all the
more difficult.
'This is now a different playing field to the one we had seven years ago. Then, we knew we
would have the Olympics and the players were committed to a full training program. Now,
with the lure of Sydney no longer there, many of players are focused on making a living
while they can and they have to venture off-shore to do that.'
But Stirling has also issued a warning to her players. 'I'm not against any athlete making
a living, but there has to be some compromise, particularly when they're looking at
playing for their country. They can't play seven months in the European leagues, and in
some cases split their playing time between Europe and the US, and expect us to be in a
position to judge them for a spot on the national team.
'In Europe some of the wealthy clubs have gone broke and our athletes have struggled. The
lure of the money is not always so rosy. They have to learn negotiation skills, working
with agents. It's stressful, they can't always protect themselves and there's always the
danger of injury.'
For Stirling, the selection task has been made easier with the formation of a selection
panel comprising herself, former Boomers Coach Adrian Hurley, and Sydney Panthers and WNBL
games record-holder as a player, Karen Dalton.
'There needs to be a sense of accountability with selection,' Stirling said. 'Biases could
come into play and the panel helps with ratification of selection.'
Stirling will also continue with the national coaching panel, a fixture that has proven
very effective over the past decade. Her panel will comprise Phil Brown, head coach at the
Australian Institute of Sport, Jenny Cheesman, Opals assistant coach since 1993, Carrie
Graf, assistant coach since 1994, former head coach of the Brisbane Blazers, Terri Page
and head coach of the Dandenong Rangers, Mark Wright. All of the coaches, including
national coach applicants Graf and Cheesman, nominated for the positions through
expressions of interest.
The panel is a valuable resource and one that Stirling says is vital to the sport's
development. 'There needs to be a link between the national coach and the WNBL coaches.
There needs to be a place for dialogue and for coaches to have ownership of the national
program. We get together on tour and on training camps and look at players together. The
national program is not a closed shop.'
Stirling also gives, and receives advice, from a close circle of coaching friends,
including Australian Rules Football Coach David Parkin, former Australian Rules exercise
physiologists Nick Hadjicostis and Robert Crouch and 1997 World Cup Lacrosse Captain for
Australia, Jenny Williams.
'You need to think more laterally when you're looking for different approaches and all the
sports these people are involved in can give you different ideas on things like zone
defence or mental conditioning.
'I also often go down to the local junior soccer night to watch. The soccer players are
very light on the feet and you rarely see soccer players with a bad knee injury. These are
the sorts of things you need to think about as a coach. It helps you expand yourself to
look outside your own framework and it helps you give some variety to the players.'
Meanwhile, with a four-year appointment, Stirling is getting on with the job, but not
looking too far ahead. 'I don't feel any pressure taking up from Tom. I'm simply getting
on with rebuilding for the next guy. I like the idea of a four year cycle. I think of it
as a revolving door and I think four years is enough time. I think people deserve a crack
at the top job and I don't want to be the person to preclude them from doing that.'
****************************
Jan Stirling made her debut at the East Asian Games which began 19 May in Osaka,
internationally blooding eight new players and coaching the team to a silver medal after
being beaten by five points in the gold medal play-off with China.
(article appears in Sports Coach, Vol 24 No. 2, 2001) |
