Tara Murray
After progressing through the pathway at the Sunbury Jets, Simon Nicholson is excited to take on the challenge as the club’s new Big V women’s state championship coach.
Nicholson was late last month named as the club’s new women’s coach replacing Ben Draper who stepped down from the role. The Jets finished fourth this year after an interrupted season.
Nicholson said he had been working towards this role for a number of years.
“It’s really exciting,” he said. “I’ve been involved with the club since 2017 and the club has provided me with a lot of opportunities to grow and develop as a coach.
“I’m grateful for everything they have done and I want to take the side back to the championship success of 2016, 2017 and 2018.”
Nicholson has been involved in the junior pathways at the club along with the youth league women’s side.
He is also an assistant coach for the Basketball Victoria Vic Country under-16 team for next year’s national championships.
Nicholson said the association had been keen to develop coaches to come through their system.
“I’ve had some chats with the director of coaching the last few years and I’ve been working towards this,” he said.
“One of the big things the association has been focused on is getting a clear pathway, not just for players but for coaches as well.
“I’m the first to go through the pathway of junior assistant, junior coach, senior assistant and now senior coach.”
Nicholson works full time as the association’s development officer giving him an insight into the talent at the club.
He believes that role will help him with coaching the women’s side. He will also coach the Jets top under-18 girls side in the Victorian Junior Basketball League.
“I work with kids who are five to those more elite rep kids,” he said.
“My main aim is to see a senior women’s team full of players that have come through our VJBL.”
Nicholson said he had already spoken to some players about returning to the club and he said it shows the strength of the program that it’s a place people want to play.
Nicholson has quickly got to work with try outs and open training held last week, with another one this week.
He wanted to see what players were interested in playing early on so they were able to recruit around them if needed.
