By David Nagel
It may sit at the foot of the West Gippsland netball competition ladder but don’t let that fool you for one second into thinking that Garfield doesn’t have ambition of rising up the ranks of the table in the coming years.
The Stars have been on struggle street for quite a few seasons now – coming close to consequences that go way beyond the impact of a simple win-loss column.
But the Stars are bouncing back to life with a new focus and professional attitude.
That new focus is being driven by the club’s A and B Grade coach Donna Marsh, who has a wealth of experience, ever-expanding knowledge, and a strong family connection to draw on.
Her dad Ray was a highly successful coach who won multiple A grade premierships, while her mum Marie shared in many of those success stories and was also captain of the Victorian Water Polo team.
Her older sister Vicki played netball at a very high level, while next sister Kim has also been heavily involved and is now the proud president of the Garfield Netball Club.
“We used to just tag along with mum and dad and we all naturally got involved in the sport from there,” Marsh explained.
Marsh also focussed on her basketball but became a talented netballer in her own right, experiencing the highs and lows of grand final day during playing or coaching stints with Bunyip, Cora Lynn, Drouin and Kooweerup.
She led Kooweerup to a premiership as playing-coach in 2007, and coached the Eastern Zone Netball Academy and was a Netball Victoria selector through those same years.
She also played in representative teams and played for the Gippsland Storm in the then state league competition.
Along the way she has also attained level-2 coaching accreditation and is currently expanding her knowledge and craft in a scholarship coaching role under Robynn Pym at VNL club Casey Demons.
Marsh also had a short stint playing football, but tore her ACL in just her second game with the Garfield women’s team.
But it’s netball – and Garfield – that is now her great passion as she looks to lift the club from the bottom rungs of the competition. She acknowledges that there is still plenty of work to be done before the Stars begin that vertical climb up the ladder.
“It’s a tough gig because the club has been down the bottom of the ladder, but I love a challenge and everyone’s on board for the ride,” Marsh said.
“My main role is to mentor our coaches, improve our base skills, and implement new structures that will lead to a new culture at the club.
“This is my local community club, I live in Garfield, and I want it to be a success, both on and off the court, and see development in not only our skills but our personal development as well.
“It can be disheartening when everyone is working so hard to improve and not seeing results, but we’ve implemented some new ideas that will help the club moving forward.”
Marsh said there were many positives at Garfield right now and that things were definitely heading in the right direction.
“There are some massive positives at the club at the moment,” she said.
“We’ve got great numbers, with nine or 10 players in every team, our coaches are working hard, and we’ve got some great young talent coming through our Net Set Go program and our 11’s and under 13’s.
“We’ve got great sponsors on board, that are helping take the pressure of players financially, and if we can keep recruiting and combine that with our youngsters that are coming through – I think we’re in a pretty good place to turn things around quite quickly.
“From we’re we’ve come from and having to basically rebuild an A Grade team; I think we’ve made great strides in the right direction.”
After many personal and team triumphs, Marsh said it’s watching the development of her players that now triggers her motivation to continue in the sport.
“My motivation at the moment is not about winning, it’s about those light-bulb moments that the players have when they execute a new skill and do it well,” she said.
“They might not be winning, but learning a new skill and then actually doing it in a game really does make their eyes light up.
“I’ve won premierships and best and fairests before, but my highlight as a coach is seeing the players have those special moments.”
Marsh also coached the WGFNC representative interleague team the last time they stepped out in 2019, and would relish the opportunity to do it all again…once again following her dad’s path.
“It was great to work with that level of player and it was something that I always wanted to do,” she said.
“Dad coached interleague, so once again I was following in his footsteps and it’s something I’d love to do again if the opportunity presented itself.
“Working with people like (assistant-coach) Allan Douglas and the calibre of player we had was a great experience.”
It was just another challenge that Donna Marsh embraced…just like the one that she and her club are now facing as they look for a rapid climb up the WGFNC ladder over the coming years.
