Georgie Salter is a coach with a bag full of tricks.
She had her Otago team testing the chilly Pacific winter waters at St Clair beach yesterday.
Salter has come back as the Otago coach this year in a bid to restore pride in the Otago frock.
When she was last at the helm Otago won the national championships and the Rebels the Coca-Cola Cup in 1998.
In a bid to develop team cohesion and morale Salter put the girls through a surf life-saving course.
"They learnt the basics at Moana Pool on Wednesday," Salter said.
They were put through a full routine of beach and surf rescue work at St Clair Beach yesterday morning.
Why did she put her team through such a difficult task?
"I want the girls to rely on each other and be there to help each other," Salter said. "I like all players in my squads to feel equal. I don't like to have any hierarchy."
She chose surf life-saving because none of the team had done it before and they were all equal novices.
"I want to develop an awareness of the mental capacity of the team and I expect it to transfer on to the netball court."
The coach used a similar philosophy when she last coached Otago.
In 1998 she employed Otago diving coach Dick Lamb and by the end of the session all the girls were doing a reverse dive off the high board.
She also employed the army to teach her team discipline at boot camps.
"They had a lot of individual flair but had no discipline at that time," Salter said.
Otago plays in a three-team invitation tournament with Southland and Canterbury on August 23 and 24. The first national championship game is against Waikato at Dunedin on September 6.
