Patience and maturity make ‘Digger’ better now
THE man attempting to steer Sylvans to a first FNB Priaulx League title in 16 years, and his first as coach, says maturity and patience are making him a better coach.
Martyn ‘Digger’ de Garis is in his third stint as the Westerners’ head coach having twice walked away from it before.
But now, aged 50, he is sure is a better coach for the age.
‘The early years I let myself down a bit. When things got tough I walked away. I will be honest on that.
‘This time I want to see it through.
‘There has been some tough times.
‘I’ve got more patience now and I’ve learned quite a lot over the last few years.
‘[It’s] maturity on my part and I learned a lot while working with the ladies’ football... to manage different people. I think my man-management has got a bit better.’
He clearly enjoys working and improving younger players and, at Sylvans, there are plenty of those.
It’s a very young squad and there has been a queue of promising young players who have headed to St Peter’s this past 18 months looking for a chance and the opportunity to be nurtured by the quietly-spoken de Garis.
Players such as James Ravenscroft, Tiago Rodrigues and Seb Sheppard who arrived from Rovers, Miles Hardill from Rangers and, latterly, Harvey Lihou from St Martin’s.
‘I’ve coached the 16s and 18s before and bringing players through, making a difference, seeing them develop as young players, putting my philosophy in and sticking to it through good and bad. I’d like to see the fruition of that.’
