I first met Kira-Leo Leo (now Nicol) and Shanita Smith in 2011, when I took over the strength and conditioning program for the Capricorn Claws Netball Squad.
Sometimes coaching is more than just about making someone stronger, or fitter, or better at their sport. It is as much about coaching their mind as their body.
Over the past 4 years, I have seen Kira and Shanita mature into fantastic athletes and netball players at a high level. For any young netball athlete, the opportunity to learn from these two athletes should be regarded as a privilege.
These are some of the most important factors, in my experience that make Kira and Shanita two of the best netball athletes I have coached:
- Commitment
Kira has consistently driven a 90km return trip to do a 1.5hour gym session for 4 years and in 4 years has missed less than 10 gym sessions overall for any reason. She has the best attendance rate to training, despite working a full-time job, and living a reasonable distance away from where we train.
For 4 years, she has committed to improving herself, in a physical, mental and a game sense. In 2015, we agreed to ensure that she finished the season better than she started, rather than her performance dropping during the finals.
We achieved this, unfortunately a knee injury in a club game 2 days prior to the preliminary finals put a stop to her playing in the Preliminary Final. Despite suffering a serious and season ending injury, she chose to try to get back for the Claws game. She worked for 8 hours over two days to try to get back on court. There are many players who would have not even tried and accepted that there was no chance.
Shanita, I have always seen as someone who refuses to take second best as an option. The way she has applied herself to her schooling, sport, then university and now full time shift work and still finds time to train and compete at the level she produces is awesome.
Most people would not even know, but Shanita is another athlete who played for 6 weeks at the end of the season with suspected foot fractures. Her toughness and spirit are the elements of an athlete that you cannot really train but just enjoy and nurture as a coach.
2. Personal Responsibility
Over the past 4 years, I have seen a leader develop in both Shanita and Kira. They both take a high level of ownership over their own and their team’s performance.
A famous coach once said to me “Your performance is your problem. Your success is your celebration. Before you can succeed over and over again, you must fail. If you blame others for your failures then succeeding cannot really be your fault can it?”
3. Pure athletic ability
The numbers in training both girls produce are awesome:
- Both consistently jump over 60cm vertical jump.
- Shanita has a best time over 10m of 1.82seconds and Kira a best time of 2.00 seconds.
- Strength – Both can squat more than their body weight and both have learned how to Power Clean this year. Both can dead lift more than their bodyweight.
- They both do the little things – stretching, mobility and stability work to help their performance.
These numbers do not come with saying, “I can’t,” or “It can wait until tomorrow.” They come from hard work, dedication and self-belief.
4. Always looking for the next level in performance
They both listen, and ask relevant questions and have a genuine desire to keep developing their skill levels whether it is in the gym, or learning how to run faster, or becoming a more skillful netball player in their respective positions.
So, what can young netball players learn from both these players?
I would say that on the basis of how I rate Kira and Shanita, it is to never stop trying to improve and to be truly committed to your goals and your team’s goals.