State tenure a blessing: Van Asch
Australian stalwart and Bowls Australia’s (BA) High Performance Manager Rebecca Van Asch has labelled her experience as CEO of Bowls Tasmania as a blessing as she transitioned into her current position.
The 33-year-old, who was appointed to the national role in June, told BA’s Without Bias radio program that she’s thankful for her tenure in the Apple Isle and having experienced being a player in the high performance system, as they provided a comprehensive understanding of the program.
In addition, the Commonwealth Games gold medallist wants to ensure the transition to a new Chief Executive Officer is seamless for her home state.
“There’s been benefits, because working for a state body that is very close with Bowls Australia helped me understand the organisation at BA,” Van Asch said.
“It was nice not coming into the role completely fresh and it was good having some sort of grounding, I felt like I could hit the ground running in the position, which is fantastic.
“I’m looking to help Bowls Tasmania with the transition, I believe they’re appointing their CEO quite soon and I want to make that process as easy as I can for Bowls Tas.
“I want to see them prosper and shine for a long time to come so whatever I can do there to help the organisation go from strength to strength, I’m all for it.”
Van Asch is part of a new-look High Performance setup in 2021, with Gary Willis taking over as National Coach and Karen Murphy AM assuming the position of assistant.
She has been impressed with how the program has been run by Willis, especially in the uncertain times throughout the pandemic.
“It’s a new-look team from an admin perspective but we’ve all been in the program in one way or another for a number of years now,” she said.
“The program is now headlined by Gary Willis and I feel very fortunate to have worked with Gaz when he was assistant coach, and he was terrific in that role.
“Behind the scenes I am incredibly impressed with how he’s spearheading the program and managing it and he’s definitely ably assisted by Karen Murphy who’s stepped into that assistant coach role.
“We’ve got some great staff members in Leah Lazzaro and Sam Cox, so it is a new look team but it’s one that I’m incredibly fortunate to be working with.”
Hear the full Without Bias chat with Rebecca Van Asch and Barrie Lester below.
