Netball: Steering a new course for England

Marg Caldow can still remember the midwinter's day back in 1963 when she boarded the giant luxury liner the SS Canberra in Melbourne.

Bound for England, the Australian netball side were heading to the first world championship netball tournament. A destination that would take them three and a half weeks to reach.

Back then Caldow, now the coach of England, was Australia's young hot-shot goal attack in a star-studded team that included former Australian coach Joyce Brown.

While the journey was long and at times volatile Caldow professes it was surprisingly memorable.

"We used to train on the boat in the mornings," she remembers. "We were limited to what we could do with ball work and with the movement of the boat we lost a number of balls over the side.

"We had a stopover in Sri Lanka and had a practice match there which was a lot of fun."

In England, the Australians began what has almost become tradition. They beat New Zealand in the final by one goal.

"I can't remember who shot the winning goal," said Caldow who, incidentally, was up against the matriarch of New Zealand netball, Lois Muir, in the final. "Thankfully it was one of us."

And thankfully the Australian team were allowed to fly home if they chose.

While that world championship win will always be special, Caldow does have another two to draw on.

After a five-year break, which she took for the birth of her two children, she returned to the national side in 1970 and guided the green and golds to success at the 1975 and 1979 world championships.

Her playing days ended in 1979, after which she immediately took up coaching, first with the Australian Institute of Sport and then the Victoria Institute of Sport.

Her association with England began in 1996 when she travelled over to assist the then England coach Mary Beardwood in the build-up to the 1999 world championships.

She then succeeded former Silver Fern Waimarama Taumaunu as the national performance director of England Netball before taking over from another New Zealander, Lyn Gunson, as head coach last year.

Caldow was initially a "caretaker" coach while a replacement was being sought. She coached England in a home series against Australia in March last year and was then asked if she would like the job through to the 2007 world championships in Fiji.

"It wasn't like I had dreamed of coaching an international side, it just sort of happened."

Twelve months later Caldow has her troops in New Zealand as part of a lengthy Southern Hemisphere tour which will give them an indication of where they are at 12 months out from the Commonwealth Games.

With the gap between the top three teams in the world - New Zealand, Australia and Jamaica - and the rest slowly widening, Caldow is mindful of the significant amount of work needed if England are to make it on to the medal dais.

Especially having just suffered a 40 goal hiding from the Aussies.

"The standard in England is nowhere near that of New Zealand and Australia," she said. "But it is improving."

Looking ahead to the series against the Silver Ferns, Caldow admits it is difficult to find weaknesses in the world champion side.

Interestingly she identifies former South African international Irene van Dyk and former Fijian representative Vilimaina Davu as New Zealand's most dangerous weapons.

Whether that is purely coincidental, or an Australian having a swipe at the NZ team, it is difficult to say. While Caldow may still look on the Australian team fondly, coaching them is something she has more or less ruled out.

"I am pretty sure I'll retire after the next world championships," she said.