All Golds v North Wales Crusaders LCC3 FINAL

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10 STARS COME OUT TO SHINE WRITTEN BY CHRIS WILSON After seven months of putting piece after piece in place, the picture became clear on Saturday night as the Severn Stars made their debut in the Vitality Netball Super League. The club was formed as a collaboration between the University of Worcester and University of Gloucestershire and, up against the defending champions, Surrey Storm, the Stars won the first quarter and drew the third but the Storm scored enough in the other two to record an opening day 58-40 win. One of the main players behind the scenes is Pamela Cookey. A former Storm player and England captain, Cookey retired as a player after winning the Grand Final, only to unexpectedly return to the sport within months as director of netball at the Stars. “It’s exciting and I do love a challenge,” Cookey, 32, told BBC Sport. “I want to put my mark on something. And this is something new, something I could bring my ideas to.” The puzzle? To help build an elite squad of 12 players, establish three development sides, build community support, a fan base and club identity from scratch in six months. Even before seven-time Superleague winner Cookey arrived with her 114 England caps, Severn Stars were already being moulded by a former international playing great and new head coach, Mo’onia Gerrard - a two-time World Cup winner with the Australian Diamonds. The pair, once fierce rivals on court, are now the closest of colleagues. “Oh, I had plenty of battles with her on court. She was a pain,” said Cookey. “It was weird, the first conversation we had, because it was like we had known each other for years.” www.allgoldsrugby.com @AllGolds facebook.com/AllGoldsRugby
The Australian’s arrival was a “major coup” for the fledgling franchise, says founding director Anita Navin. “She was a massive brand straight away that said we mean business,” said Navin. “I’d got an idea early on in terms of what we needed to do to be seen, as I was worried that we would be a new franchise and wouldn’t be seen as a critical part of it and we wouldn’t recruit players. That became a big issue early on, plenty of sleepless nights about how you build a brand in two weeks. “You can’t recruit players without a coach because they want to know the style of the coach. “A lot of our athletes in this country have their own preference of style, they don’t like the real authoritarian type of coaching, they want to be empowered, have ownership, so I knew the coach was a real critical appointment for us. “And it couldn’t just be someone that has a tiny element of experience at international level, we needed to get someone that had been there and lived it.” Cookey’s full title at the University of Gloucester is director of netball and senior lecturer in professional development in sport When Cookey walked off the Copper Box court after helping Surrey Storm defend their title in May 2016, did she expect to start retirement as a senior lecturer at the University of Gloucester and director of netball at the then, yet-to-be identified new franchise? No. “It came at the right time,” said Cookey, a figure that Navin had long tried to get involved with the game in Gloucestershire. “I wasn’t thinking about any netball jobs at all when I retired. It wasn’t on the radar. “This is a nice opportunity to stay in the sport and I could create something with netball and could develop my career on the other side.” The Severn Stars have the pooled resources of two universities at their disposal as they seek to build a brand. They will play at the 2,000-seater Worcester Arena, calling on the netball nous of Navin - one of the country’s foremost coaching advisors - while utilising communication, marketing, strength and conditioning, performance analysis and sports therapy expertise at the schools. As an athlete, Cookey was used to being busy as she effectively lived a double life, juggling an international playing career and club ambitions with business management jobs, which at a time also included commutes from Bristol to France. Cookey is less focused on what happens on court as she only contributes as a specialist coach, with former Hertfordshire Mavericks head coach Sam Bird coming in as assistant coach. Her job is one that ranges from ensuring the complex partnership between the two universities works to helping sign players, establishing links with grassroots netball clubs, generating corporate support, working on events and helping to make sure that everything adheres to Superleague regulations. She has even had an influence on the creation of Twitter accounts and merchandise. Asked if she could have chosen a tougher job in netball after retiring from the game, she laughed: “Probably not. I tend to do that to myself, I’m never one to do things by half. “This job brings together my talents. It’s the right fit for me. I can still be in netball but not be playing or coaching.” With franchise bids won and bosses in place, the Stars mounted a bold recruitment drive. From the sleepless nights thinking about how to approach and convince players to suit up for the Stars, the club has gone from zero to 100 players - across four teams and development squads and training partners - wearing the Severn colours in six months. Jodie Gibson was the first player to sign and she was one of three England internationals to leave last season’s losing finalists Manchester Thunder to join the new franchise. “We needed quick wins before we could market who we were,” said Navin. “We wanted the right people to share the identity, and that is the conversation we had with those three.” From there, the squad was built, taking in emerging England talent and those with Superleague experience, before looking at players in local trials. “It feels like the jigsaw has come into place,” she said. 11 Subscribe to our website mailing list to get exclusive All Golds news first.
Page 1: FREE MATCHDAY MAGAZINE FEB 26 th 20
Page 4 and 5: WELCOME TO THE ALL GOLD WRITTEN BY
Page 6 and 7: 6 CHALLENGE CUP GLORY GEORGE COWBUR
Page 8 and 9: UNIVERSITY OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE ALL G
Page 12 and 13: 12 ALL GOLDS HOPING FOR REPEAT OF L
Page 14 and 15: MATCH REPORT HEMEL STAGS 12-48 ALL
Page 16 and 17: 16 FIVE NEW SIGNINGS TO WATCH JACK
Page 18 and 19: FLAME OF THE WEST the west awakes 1
Page 20 and 21: ALL GOLDS FIXTURES & RESU DATE K.O.
Page 22: ALL GOLDS HEAD COACH: LEE GREENWOOD

All Golds v North Wales Crusaders LCC3 FINAL

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