Gail Solman always had a dream of winning the State Age Netball Championships.
She is a coach of note in Singleton and has taken Singleton Heights Public School through to the PSSA State Finals three times, finishing in third place every time.
But the State Age Championship title has always been elusive.
She coached her first representative team 40 years ago and has coached rep for most of the years since but getting the State Age Championship win has remained somewhat of a dream.
But now, after 40 years, she has finally won that title fulfilling a dream with a team of players who simply did what she asked.
It was Singleton Netball Association’s Under 14s side that helped her achieve the ultimate with the support of assistant coach Tyanna Lopez and team manager Megan McCann.
Competing in division 3 at the competition at Baulkham Hills early July, Gail described the players as her dream team.
They played 15 games throughout the three days of competition, winning them all and winning was something they had been accustomed to in the lead up carnivals.
“We were undefeated in the carnivals so I knew we were in with a strong chance but State Age is an entirely different competition and nerves can impact players,” Gail told The Hunter River Times.
Gail said she is usually quite composed but this year she was extremely nervous and the players were calm, quite the opposite to previous experiences.
Over the years Gail has learned that it is important for all the players to have fun and in her words, ‘My goodness they had fun’.
“They all got along so well, not a bad word said amongst the players and they laughed a lot at training but when they went onto the court to compete they all just switched on,” Gail said snapping her fingers.
Gail coaches four afternoons a week, spends Saturday at the Rose Point courts for the local comp and is often away Sundays for carnivals or clinics.
The team consisted of Pypah McCann, Sybella Muddiman, Tamah Holz, Holly Crossley, Addison Wichman- Simon, Lesia Tau, Zahra Tickell, Lily Mitchell, Hannah Diab and Brandi Shaw.
