The Rockingham Lady Flames will take to the floor with a fresh new look in season 2009 and the change doesn’t stop with the on court personnel. The Flames have agreed to terms with local stalwart Ryan Petrik to take the reins of the SBL Women in an exciting move for the club.

Petrik (27), is a second generation Flame following his fathers heavy involvement as Rockingham Basketball president during the 1990’s. In recent times Ryan has acted as the Assistant Coach for the Flames SBL Men during the past four years which followed a heavy involvement with the Flames junior WABL program and junior development within the association.

When Petrik was presented with the opportunity to coach the Lady Flames he said it was simply a job to good to pass on. “To have control of an entire program and run it with some personal flair has me excited.”

Speaking on the signing Association CEO Shannon Conrad said “I am very pleased to see Ryan step up to the challenges of a head coaching role. Anyone who has seen Ryan coach over the past view years would have been impressed with his incredible insight and understanding of the game and I can’t wait to see him apply those skills to our Women’s program. With Ryan making a long term commitment to this team I firmly believe we could be on the verge of a grand final appearance in the very near future.”

Petrik’s attention now turns to a gruelling pre-season campaign which will include both fitness and skills sessions as the Lady Flames look to improve on last season’s 9-15 record which had them just miss out on a playoff berth.

“On paper it's a great team, but the game isn't played there, so we’re going to have to work hard to get the results everyone knows were capable of said Petrik.”

As for who will suit up for the Lady Flames in 2009 when quizzed on his squad Petrik said “you will just have to sit tight and wait on that one, we have some exciting signings which will be announced in the next week so stay tuned.”