2011 Victoria Jr. A Shamrocks
January 20, 2012
New Coaches Bring Three E’s
by Janice Huckin
The Jr. Shamrocks have almost a whole new coaching team entering the 2012 season and they are bringing three E’s: Enthusiasm, Experience and Expectations. In the coming weeks, I’ll be talking to each coach and bringing their thoughts and strengths to fans. Although Larry Smeltzer is the head coach, he suggested I start with Nirmal Dillon.
Nirmal is one of three Lacrosse Hall-of-Famers willing to bring his talents and expertise to the team. Hopefully he won’t be offended if I refer to him as the ‘elder statesman’ of the crew. Anyone who knows anything about lacrosse in Victoria will be familiar with Nirmal Dillon and his accomplishments. He brings a wealth of playing and coaching experience and was in fact the last Jr. ‘A’ coach to lead a Victoria/Esquimalt team to a Minto Cup Championship. You must go back to 1988 for that – far too long in many of our minds. The 2008 team most recently came close, finishing with a silver medal.
Nirmal also won a Minto Cup as a player – it was a while ago, when he was called up as a 16 year-old. After a stellar WLA playing and coaching career, including some Mann Cup championships along the way, Nirmal was lured to that other island Jr. ‘A’ team, the Nanaimo Timbermen (feel free to insert groan here), where he spent the last couple of seasons as an assistant coach.
In talking to Nirmal, one thing that jumped out at me was his passion for the game. Although he admitted to initially being reluctant to return to coaching so soon after resigning from Nanaimo, friend and former teammate, head coach Larry Smeltzer managed to convince him to return to the green and white.
While he has only seen the Jr. Shamrocks from the opposition bench recently, he has some thoughts on the team moving forward. The team has an abundance of talent but to win a Minto Cup also requires character on and off the floor, discipline and focus. It is the responsibility of the coaching staff to bring these to the players.
The team will have to be better defensively, more structured and, as he says “a huge hit isn’t necessarily good defense”. Many of last year’s graduates played at the back end so there will be some holes to fill defensively and this is an aspect of the game at which Nirmal excelled.
The roles of all the coaches will evolve over the coming months. While Nirmal feels discipline and a work ethic are things that can be brought to the team in short order, he acknowledged that ‘it has to be fun’. The more things a team does together, the more of a team they’ll become. He, along with the rest of the coaching staff, is anxious to get started.
Next installment in a week or so will focus on another newcomer – Ron McQuarrie.
Continued on Current News>>>