Coach Nevers critical of Allison-McCracken approach

Veteran netball coach Winston Nevers says that current national team head coach Jermaine Allison-McCracken has made mistakes in how she interacts with her team.

Allison-McCracken has been criticised by various netball enthusiasts in recent times following an incident where three members of the Sunshine Girls team were suspended ahead of their three-match home Test against Barbados. After these players were removed from the team, they spoke about arguments which arose between them, other players and Allison-McCracken, saying they find her disrespectful in how she talks to them.

Nevers has criticised Allison-McCracken, saying that it is never a good idea to make your players resent you.

"I heard the coach (Allison-McCracken) in an interview the other day saying she's not here to be liked and she's not here to mother the girls. I am telling her that she made a big mistake. If you study sports psychology, it will tell you that in order for your players to excel, you have to win them over to you, to really make them play for you, so they give you that extra drive and that extra effort," he said.

BOND WITH PLAYERS

Nevers said that any good relationship between a coach and his or her players must have trust as the foundation. He added that coaches are supposed to develop such a bond with their players that they will even come to them for help with personal issues that may affect their performance on the court.

"If they have any problems at all, they relay it to you as a coach," he said. "It doesn't matter if you're a man or woman, if you have that quiet and nice and respectable relationship with them; or where they trust you to say things to you and love you. All of you are like a little family then. So they relate to you every single time they have a problem, because you help them in every little thing they want to do."

Nevers, who has coached local netball club Jamalco to numerous national titles, had previously said he is sceptical about the appointment of Allison-McCracken, who he believes has not yet proven herself in netball at the international level.

"As far as I am concerned, paper is not only it, you have to be able to do the practical," Nevers previously said, regarding Allison-McCracken's qualification listed on her résumé.