Sydenham-Hillside is continuing its rebuild in the Victorian Turf Cricket Association women’s competition.
The Storm has focused on bringing through a new group of players the past couple of seasons with the focus on building a long term sustainable program.
Storm coach Michael Galofaro said while it was only early in the season things were going along well.
“It’s a lot of the same group as last year has been building for a few years now,” he said.
“We’re still in the rebuilding phase. The girls are enjoying it and they keep coming back.
“It keeps them occupied and it’s good for them.”
Galofaro, who is in his second season as coach, said coaching the group has its challenges like all coaching roles but he enjoyed it.
“It’s a lot different to coaching boys and mens,” he said. “A lot of them are mums or wives.”
The Storm were 1-1 after the first three rounds with a washout as well.
Galofaro said it was nice to get an early win on the board.
“The performance was amazing,” he said. “At one stage it didn’t look like we would get it, but two senior girls knuckled down and got us the win.
“We’re really happy with the result and hopefully it will help us for the rest of the season.”
Galofaro said they were seeing improvement every week.
“Our mindset is we’re not worried about the result,” he said. “Our success isn’t reflected by wins.
“We’ve had a few girls go and play premier cricket. We’ve been helping develop those kids for the future.”
The Storm recently had a former junior Jasmine Kamjob play for Australia’s under-19 team, the first player from the club to represent Australia.
The Storm has made a real focus of trying to get more females, both women and girls to play cricket.
Galofaro said it only benefits the local community with more female participation.
“We’re offering a free women’s program,” he said. “People can come and try to see whether they like it or not.”
The Storm was set to face Caroline-Burnside Springs on Sunday.
Rain though washed out the match.
Galofaro said it would have been a different challenge with the two sides combining having been separate last season.
“Caroline Springs has gone through some change,” he said of the side which has been one of the best teams for a number of years.
“It’ll be interesting and see how we stack up against them and every other team in the competition.”
