Gold star becomes Diamond

The all-time Guernsey great has stepped aside from playing due to health reasons, but she is reapplying her expertise by coaching Oracle Diamonds in their maiden Women’s League season.

She has welcomed back two returning stars, Lorna Brown and Verona Tomlin, who she credits with bringing ‘a huge amount of experience’ and ‘a calm presence’ to the court.

Tracy Martel, Rochelle Mullen and Kerri Brown bring further experience, but the side will also be a vessel for several brand-new players inspired by the Island Games.

‘We really have quite a selection at both ends of the spectrum and it will be interesting to see how it kind of comes together,’ Taylor-Kerr said on the latest Guernsey Press Sport Podcast.

‘I think that’s the challenge.

‘It’s bringing experience together with inexperience and I think that what we will probably see is a great improvement over the course of the season.’

The basketball season officially begins tonight with a trio of Division Two games.

However, Diamonds will make a daunting debut in the first major top-flight match, facing multiple champions Ravenscroft on Friday night.

Taylor-Kerr does not know quite what to expect against the established top teams – also including Praxis Pumas and Imperium Comets – but expects plenty of development through the season.

‘I would like to think that we’d at least be competitive,’ she said.

‘Again, I don’t think that we’re going to go out and win a game necessarily against five or six Island players. We just don’t have that.

‘However, I think that we have the potential to do really well and again I think what we’ll probably find is our improvement will be throughout the season.’

The full interview with Taylor-Kerr, which includes the boom in basketball after the home Island Games, is available on the latest Guernsey Press Sport Podcast – out now.