EXPLORING war-torn Afghanistan and learning Thai boxing in Thailand say a lot about Port Fairy’s new A grade netball coach Kellie Sommerville — she loves a challenge.
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The elite midcourter signed with the Seagulls for 2015 after being courted by a handful of clubs as she looks to reignite her playing career following an overseas adventure this year.
The 23-year-old’s list of destinations this year included North and South America, Panama, Jamaica, Afghanistan, Turkey and Thailand before returning to her base at Halls Gap.
Sommerville plans to relocate south to Warrnambool to be closer to family and friends and her hunger for competitive netball led her to Hampden league club Port Fairy.
Her younger sister Emma, 21, a key defender, will join her at Port Fairy in a new era for the Seagulls following Emma Cust’s two-year stint in charge.
Sommerville is excited about Port Fairy’s prospects next season alongside the added challenge of coaching for the first time.
While Sommerville has an impressive playing record, she admits she is untried as a coach.
She won five premierships in a row through 13 and under (twice), 15 and under (twice) and 17 and under (once) competition with Hamilton in the Western Border league before her successful run was broken with an A grade grand final loss to Millicent in the 2007 grand final.
She transferred to Glenthompson-Dunkeld in 2008,, playing in four consecutive grand finals for one win before joining Central Highlands club Springbank while at university. Sommerville was part of Springbank’s consecutive premier and champion A grade sides in 2012 and 2013 before heading overseas.
In between, she had five seasons at Victorian Netball League competition, most recently in 2011 with Peninsula Waves at championship level after four seasons in division one.
She said her career had been built around high-intensity competition in the Victorian Netball League mid-week with fun country netball on weekends. But Sommerville said her desire to travel to Melbourne had waned so she wanted to play at the highest level she could — the Hampden league.
“I’ve only ever done some Net, Set, Go coaching,” she said.
“When I played for Springbank I just wanted to go there ... all through my netball career I have just wanted to go there and play and then go home. But I started to get frustrated at not having that competition and control. I’m a centre. I want to be in control. I’m probably at an age and experience now to go further and put my experience to use.”
She has played under a number of quality coaches and intends putting a combination of that experience in to place at Port Fairy.
Sommerville, who has an exercise science degree, hasn’t seen a lot of the Hampden league recently but she has done her homework.
“I know it’s a strong league, obviously I have played for Springbank and Glenthompson-Dunkeld and they are considered minor leagues. I’ve been out of VNL for a while, I know it’s going to be a step up.
“At Springbank we were beating teams by 80 goals and it’s not fun and it’s not a good standard of netball. I’m so used to having VNL as a good standard but I don’t want to be in Melbourne. I want to get a good level of netball here.”
Sommerville said she planned to relocate next month and was looking forward to starting pre-season training.