600 games! It’s a milestone that is rarely reached in basketball, let alone any sport. It takes a huge amount of longevity, passion, and sustained success at a high level to even come close to this number of games. But, this weekend, Blackburn Vikings Coach Glenn Rees will celebrate 600 games on his home court.
It’s an achievement so few coaches get to see and in Glenn's case a 30-year journey dating back to the early Nineties. But, we have to go back even further to when he first picked up a basketball.
“I started basketball as my summer sport, starting in under 12 at the then Nunawading Vikings. I quickly stopped football and played basketball full-time. Back then, the Vikings did not have a rep’s team, so it was MEBA only. When the Blackburn Vikings formed, I played in their first rep teams in Under 18s.” he said.
After his playing career, Glenn switched his focus to coaching. First coaching Under 12s and then moving onto a Seniors coaching role in 1993.
“I started coaching at Nunawading Vikings on a Saturday. I think my first team was an under-12 boys team (I actually coached some of these players when they played seniors).”
“I started coaching senior basketball in 1993 in the MMBL. This was also with Blackburn in the women’s program. My entry into CVIBL or maybe VBL was in 1994, again in Blackburn’s Women’s program. Trying to think back to my first game, that’s a long time ago. I do remember that my now wife, Melissa was in the team along with my sister. It was in 1997 that I moved to the men’s program.” He said.
As a young head coach, he did face some early challenges in his new role.
“The initial challenges were probably coaching players that were similar in age and getting them to buy into what I was teaching. This took a few years, but we had a very good team at Blackburn, and all became really good friends.” He said.
Over the next 30 years, Glenn would achieve a lot as a coach. Having many highlights across all the teams and players he coached along the way.
“Winning the championship in 2007 at Hawthorn is right up there. Coming home to Blackburn after being at Hawthorn for 10 years is also something that I will be forever grateful for. Being around the players and the team environment and coaching against some basketball legends have been real highlights for me. I have been very lucky.”
Rees admits his coaching style has altered over the years with each generation of players coming through.
“My coaching style has changed over the years. When I first started there was a little fire and brimstone speeches. Now it is a little more collaborative with the players. Different generations (that ages me) need different styles.”
Glenn acknowledges ‘Resilience’ and ‘Loyalty’ have been staple qualities he has learned and applied over his years of coaching.
“Resilience, not everything goes right but you always back up and do it again. After 3 runners ups seasons, some may have walked away. So, to win it all shows that the hardest challenges in life make sense if you believe and trust in what you do.”
“Loyalty, not sure if that’s around so much these days. The grass isn’t green elsewhere, it is the greenest where you water it.” Rees said.
With his eyes set on this season, he’s always looking for improvement week in and week out.
“We want to continually improve and push for finals contention. I would love to take this Blackburn team to a championship. I think then I could be satisfied.”
After three decades of coaching the game he loves. Glenn will be the first one to encourage anyone who loves basketball to get involved.
“If you love this game there is always a path for you to follow. I could play this game, but I love teaching the game and passing on what I have learned over the years. Always, always, always be a student of the game, and never stop learning.”
“When I look back on all the 600 games, I am extremely proud to have been able to coach so many players. I hope I have been able to impact their basketball journey in some way. The friendships that have been formed are forever forged in the competition.”
