Welcome to “Inside the Nest”, our weekly segment where we spotlight one of our Junior Eagles teams. This week we go inside the nest of our under 12-1 Girls team with Coach Nathan Batchelor.

It was an action-packed weekend for our U12-1 Girls team as they competed in the Southern Peninsula Tournament. The girls were up at the crack of dawn for their 8am game on Saturday in Dromana and the early start didn’t bother them as they run out comfortable winners. A trip to the beach to relax and recover was well enjoyed although it did result in coach Nathan Batchelor turning a shade pink! Back on the court in the afternoon, the team came up against a strong Frankston team whose fast game tempo proved too much for our girls.

“ It was a real eye-opener for the girls. With most of our girls having never played as fast as the pace of the game in a championship division, we were not ready for what Frankston dished out.” Explained Coach Batchelor.

Sunday brought a new level of excitement and commitment and in their 1^st match of the day against Melbourne, the girls intensity on defense was a real highlight along with their ability to be relentless with their active on-ball pressure. This continued in their last game of the weekend, a rematch against Sandringham who they had played on Friday night in their MUVJBL game and suffered a narrow loss. Coach Batchelor was glowing in his praise of his team following the match.

“As a coach for a long time, I have had a lot of memorable games and memorable victories. This game against Sandringham was right up there. The girls were tremendous in executing the game plan that was vastly different to the game plan from Friday night. Our defensive pressure was some of the best I have ever seen and we managed to knock off Sandringham by 3 points.”

The action however was not limited to just the court. In what could only be described as a “parents worst nightmare”, our very own Phoebe Harford managed to spill her well earned hot chocolate all over her very white Eagle’s singlet! Mum however did not let the pressure get to her and we can report that the singlet survived and is “white” once again!

So what did Coach Batchelor think about the weekend and his team moving forward?

“It was a tremendous experience for us. We learned more about each other then I could have hoped for. Erin, Jake and I feel very privileged to be able to coach these girls for this upcoming season. A simple way to describe them. They are little sponges who absorb knowledge and work their tails off to improve their weaknesses.”