All Golds v North Wales Crusaders LCC3 FINAL

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.
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