Kingsley Dalgleish: A man of many talents

HORSHAM man Kingsley 'KD' Dalgleish reckons he could walk down the street and find someone he has taught, coached or played sport with.

He moved from South Australia 23 years ago to teach at Horsham's St Brigid's College and began an involvement in Wimmera sport that continues today.

In the Wimmera he is best known for his football work, but the love of sport started early on in Dalgleish's life.

Growing up near the beach in Semaphore, he joined Semaphore Surf Lifesaving Club at the age of seven as a Nipper.

He competed, with his best result coming second for the state when he was 12.

At 14 Dalgleish joined seniors, doing patrols and competing.

"I did over 200 hours of patrols once I joined the senior section,'' he said.

"I went in everything. My main focuses were swimming events, the belt swims, surf skis, boards and ironman.''

He first qualified through the South Australian surf lifesaving association to compete at nationals in 1979 and stopped after 1987.

He joked the best part of surf life-saving was 'the sand, surf and the wind through my hair'.

"There was a good sense of community involvement,'' he said. "It was good being at the beach a few nights a week.''

Dalgleish also started playing under-12s football when he was seven.

He qualified for a state squad in 1975, alongside former Carlton player and now president Stephen Kernahan and Blues former player and assistant coach Craig Bradley.

Dalgleish had a short playing career.

When he was15 he took a mark during a game and landed awkwardly. It was the last game he ever played.

Dalgleish spent a few weeks in hospital recovering from the injury.

"Because I spent time in hospital I lost an inch of muscle in one of my legs,'' he said.

The incident soon presented him with another sporting challenge. He took up swimming as rehabilitation for the injury and began competing in state championships in 1978.

"I trained Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings, and Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights,'' he said. "We swam between five and seven kilometres a session.

"In summer we had the 'top 10s' and in winter the 'short course championships', which were competitions on every Friday night.

"On Saturdays it was carnivals and travelling for competitions. On Sundays we did time trials for the club.''

Dalgleish competed until 1982, when he went on exchange for a year in Brazil. When he came back he took up coaching.

Dalgleish moved to the Wimmera in 1988 for work and continued coaching, this time with the Horsham Amateur Swimming Club.

He coached Stewart Devlin to the Tri-State Series before Devlin was drafted to Geelong Football Club.

By the time Dalgleish finished with the club, at the end of 1993, he and his wife Mary had a shield named after themselves.

The KD and MAA Dalgleish Shield is for the best performance by an individual at country championships. Dalgleish said a highlight of his swim coaching days was when others achieved their goals.

"I enjoyed seeing kids set personal best times and be rewarded for training efforts, and striving to improve,'' he said.

Swimming coaching also gave Dalgleish the opportunity to get back involved with a sport he loved: Football.

"Laurie Thomas was coaching St Michaels' under-17s. He came to a swimming morning training session and said they'd discussed me at their meeting the night before. They wondered if I'd be interested in coaching.''

Dalgleish began coaching St Michaels' under-14 side in the Horsham Junior Football League in 1989. The team finished fourth in his first year.

He coached under-14s and then under-16s until the end of 1997, when St Michaels joined the Wimmera Football League. From 1998 he coached the under-17s in the WFL until his retirement in 2001.

"I enjoyed being involved in footy again,'' Dalgleish said.

"We won three premierships, one in the under-14s and two in the under-16s, in 1992, 1994 and 1997, and we were in five grand finals.''

Towards the end of the 1990s Dalgleish received life membership in both the junior and senior clubs for St Michaels, now Horsham Saints.

Football became a major part of Dalgleish's life after he started coaching.

In 1996 he became part of the Wimmera School Boys, now Wimmera under-15s Football, as a selector and runner.

In 1998 Dalgleish became coach of the side, a title he still has.

Aaron Fiora, who was later drafted to Richmond, was in the team in 1996.

As coach he worked with a number of AFL draftees, including Adam Fisher, who went to Melbourne Demons, Luke Brennan, Hawthorn; Clayton Hinkley, Fremantle; Tim Houlihan, West Coast; Matt Tyler, Brisbane; Matt Austin, Brisbane; and Kyle Cheney, Melbourne.

Wimmera export and Sydney Swans champion Adam Goodes did not make the team - 'he had just moved from Mildura and didn't try out' - and neither did Hawks' Clinton Young.

"He didn't cut the mustard that year but improved substantially the next year, Dalgleish said.

He said coaching a team for the V-Line Cup was different to coaching junior football.

"That's the start of the talented players' pathway,'' he said. "When you're coaching juniors you're hoping to win but it's more about development.

"For these boys it's the start of the program through to the TAC Cup.''

He has coached the teams to three under-15 state championships.

Dalgleish has five children, who have also influenced his football interests.

In 1998 his second daughter Olivia joined Auskick.

By 1999 Dalgleish was the co-ordinator and is still in the role as his youngest son, Sebastian, 11, nears his last year of Auskick.

"I've received awards of recognition as the co-ordinator and as regional manager,'' he said.

Dalgleish won Victorian Auskick Coach of the Year at the Australian Football Coaches Association earlier this month.

In 1997 he was also nominated and came runner-up Youth Coach of the Year for his work with the St Michaels Football Club. Other football accomplishments include commentating for the past 15 years on a 3WM radio junior football show, being the Wimmera Region Junior Board Chairman, and being president of the Wimmera-Mallee Football Coaches Association president since 1997.

He has also been an AFL School Ambassador since 2007.

Dalgleish joined the Wimmera Football Umpires Association when Olivia did in 2007.

He has since umpired in more than 150 matches.

"I umpired at the International Cup in Sydney in both goals and field umpiring,'' he said.

"The highlight was the match at ANZ Stadium between USA and South Africa as a curtain-raiser to Sydney and St Kilda. I got to do it with good friends Cameron Pickering and Mauro Boddi.''

While Dalgleish's main focuses throughout his life so far were surf-lifesaving, swimming and football, he has also been involved with Horsham Saints Cricket Club on and off since 1988.

He and his family played, coached and umpired softball in Horsham and championships until the club's recession.

He has also competed in volleyball, social netball and a tennis tournament, which he won.

"As sports co-ordinator at St Brigid's College for 20 years I coached lots of other sports as well,'' he said.

His sporting involvement earned him nomination and selection to be a torch bearer during the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, recognition he lists as a favourite sporting highlight.

Another memorable moment occurred while swimming at a surf carnival in Port Lincoln, South Australia.

"It was a Tunarama Festival swim between the wharf and the jetty, it was 1.5 kilometres,'' he said.

"There were all these boats there with guys with shotguns, because of the number of shark sightings in the lead-up to it, and they'd had all these boats churning up all the jellyfish before the swim.

"As we got out at the other end they had buckets of metho to pour over us to stop the stingers. I won that race.''

Dalgleish thanked his family for his continuing involvement in sport.

"Sport's been wonderful to keep me in shape,'' he joked.

"I have a supportive wife and family. I like being involved and I like seeing others get involved.

"My last favourite sporting moment would have to be all the Port Adelaide premierships, from 1977 to 2004.''