Matthew Berkefeld claims back to back Junior Lakers Coach of the year awards!

A sports season is full of ups and downs and requires a lot of resilience, Matt Berkefeld has shown plenty of resilience to not only coach another successful side but to overcome the challenges he had to this past season. Matt aka Buckets suffered a concussion during the football season that over a period of time did not improve, in fact it only got worse. For a couple of months Matt lost the ability to read and write and relied on others to transport him to training sessions.

Assistant coach Mitch Hunter took care of the majority of driving responsibilities, while manager Brad Norman and long time Lakers Coach Robbie Young would step up when Matt was unavailable due to the ongoing issues resulted from the concussion. A combination of Matt being brave enough to ask for the help and having a great support network of people willing to chip was important to keep the side focused and moving forward towards each tournament.

Matt always has a focus on fun and competition during team sessions ‘From a weekly point of view Mitch and I made an effort to make trainings as fun as possible. We never want the season to feel like a grind. To do this we tried to make everything competitive and to also mix in various fun games to work on finishing, shooting and decision making.’

Matt also incorporates small group skill sessions into his plans giving all players the opportunity to grow and gain direct feedback.

‘I was grateful to the boys who were understanding of my situation and also to the many other Lakers coaches and former players who reached out to me during this time. The boys kept me sane during a tough period of my life as trainings and games were the only times, I left the house for 3 months.’

The U18 men’s side went on to win the SAC Junior Country Championships in Adelaide capping off the second straight year the U18 side under Matt has taken out the tournament.

Congratulations and how does it feel to be back to back junior Lakers Coach of the year?

I appreciate the honour from the other Lakers coaches as they are people I have known for a long time and looked up to.

Going through the head injury must have been challenging for you, how are you now and what did you have to put in place to ensure the boys kept up there on court training?

I was lucky to have plenty of assistance from family, other coaches, parents and the players themselves who ensured things went smoothly. Robbie was on call to take trainings when I was too dizzy to attend and Sonya and Brian were very helpful in Bendigo, however coaching the boys was a great escape from my own problems. Luckily, I am close to recovered with my doctor thinking I will be completely normal within a few months.

Brad ‘Laddy’ Norman your manager, you must have a story on him? But also, his son Ethan has improved greatly and played a big role in the team’s success?

Brad was a great sounding board for me but in our footy conversations I learnt that he is better at making friends off the field than on it! Ethan is one of the real success stories in the whole Lakers program with his improvement and attitude and I look forward to the next phase of his basketball journey.

Any stand out moment from any of the tournaments?

It sounds obvious but winning the State Title was a fitting way for the senior guys to finish their Junior Lakers Career. Over the weekend we were able to play some golf together, catch up with the families and finish the season on a positive note on and off the court.

You have enjoyed a fair bit of Basketball Success lately back to back U18 Champs, back to back coach of the years, CBL championships, anything you put this down to?

Both groups really got along which I feel is very important. We spent a lot of time together off the court and enjoyed our work on the court. There was plenty of laughter and banter during trainings but the guys were also good in knowing when to knuckle down and get to work too. Having an understanding and positive group of parents was also very helpful to our teams.

A big congratulations to a great coach and great person that puts a lot of time, effort and passion into the sport, well deserved and we wish Matt a speedy recovery to full health.