In 25 years of coaching basketball at Duncan Christian School, Michelle Nederlof has brought home numerous Vancouver Island titles, but she has yet to win a provincial championship.
What she has accomplished at the school, however, far eclipses anything that a B.C. banner alone would represent.
That’s why Nederlof was named the BC School Sports Female Coach of the Year for 2016-17 last weekend — although even she was caught by surprise.
“When I first heard of it, my thought was, ‘Doesn’t that award go to coaches with a multitude of blue banners hanging in the gym?’” Nederlof admitted. “I realized quickly that the focus behind this award was about the impact that a coach has had on her players over the course of many years. That’s when I realized how privileged I have been to work with the coaches and players I have over the years.’”
Nederlof’s achievements and contributions to sports at Duncan Christian School and in the Cowichan Valley are too lengthy to list here, but they include serving as Island zone rep for single-A girls basketball for the last seven years, winning the Central Vancouver Island Athletic Association’s Brian Craig Memorial Award in 1998, sending multiple players to the post-secondary level, holding development camps for young students at Duncan Christian and other athletes in the community, supporting all DCS sports throughout the year, being heavily involved as the school has hosted several provincial championships in the last 25 years, including the 2016 and 2017 B.C. girls basketball championships, helping to design the Duncan Christian School gym that opened in 2009 and being the school’s elementary sports coordinator.
“We are very proud of Michelle,” DCS athletic director Tom Veenstra said. “She is very deserving of this award. She has worked extremely hard at very successfully developing our girls basketball program and our basketball program in general. We’re so happy that she is being recognized for everything that she pours into the students at Duncan Christian School. She is not only a superb coach, but also an amazing mentor to our athletes and students. If I had a daughter, I would definitely want her to be under the guidance and influence of Michelle.”
Testimony from a longtime assistant coach and several players helped boost Nederlof’s nomination for the provincial honour.
“I have watched Michelle develop the individual skills of the girls, a team, and most importantly, a program,” wrote Tammy Klassen, who has assisted Nederlof with the Duncan Christian girls basketball team for most of the last 12 years. “DCS has gone from a team expected to lose to a contender at the provincial level because of Michelle’s dedication to the sport.”
Becky Bazinet, a four-year player under Nederlof who is graduating this year, called her coach “an inspiration.”
“Mrs. N is a leader, a mentor, a friend and my coach,” Bazinet wrote. “She has been my basketball coach for the pastfour years of my high school career and has shaped me, not only as a basketball player, but as a strong human being. She has taught me lessons that have benefited me off and on the court: never give up on the ball, don’t ever give up on your passions, and to jump on every free ball, because every ball on the floor is a Chargers ball, so jump at every opportunity in life. She has taken these simple basketball lessons and transformed them into life lessons that have shaped me into a better person.”
Danielle Groenendijk is also graduating this year after five years on the senior girls basketball team, having started playing in Grade 8.
“Although I was so young, she believed in my athletic skills and was willing to build my confidence and skills to compete competitively over these five years,” Groenendijk recalled. “She has always taught me to work hard and pushed me to excel in basketball.
“Mrs. N. gives of her talents, skills, time and knowledge to help us believe in ourselves. She is able to relate and understand. She helps us work through our conflicts so that on the court we are united. Mrs. N. is an incredible example of selflessly giving of herself for the better of those around her.”
Nederlof started coaching at DCS in 1992, and worked with the boys program for her first few years before she was inspired to take the reins of the girls team.
“I ran into a basketball mentor of mine after a UVic game a few years later who expressed her disappointment at me coaching boys,” Nederlof recalled. “Her stand was that girls’ sports needs strong female mentors and we have an opportunity to do that through coaching. That really stuck with me and I spoke with Tom about changing over to the girls program.”
Without a proper gym or jerseys and only seven players, Nederlof focused on getting the best out of what she did have.
“My coaching philosophy became that a coach does not need the best players in the league to win, but the absolute best of the players on their team,” she said. “Although our program started winning under this philosophy, the win then goes far beyond the spectrum of the court. The game started catching on and so did the desire to be part of the program. About 15 years after I started coaching, we were blessed with an amazing gym. I was so excited for our school community to be part of the energy that basketball brings.”
What Nederlof does isn’t often easy, but it is rewarding, she said.
“When things don’t go our way, it’s the coach that really has to help the players gain perspective,” she said. “It’s about the challenge. Who are the girls when they start in the sport and who do they become by the end of their playing career? That’s my focus when I’m out there with the girls… who will these girls become?”
A mother of two girls, Nederlof knows the impact a coach can have on players.
“There are many great coaches out there,” she said. “I am in awe at the time each has spent with my own daughters. I’m just fortunate enough to be able to have been recognized this year, with much thanks to Tom Veenstra. This award keeps me wanting to pour into these kids. Pushing those girls at every game and every practice, helps to push me. It’s definitely been a two-way street. Every year my girls have grown and become incredible women and truly, every year, I have changed and grown because of them.”