Millicent’s Shannon Seebohm has enjoyed an unforgettable 2020 WNBL season coaching the Townsville Fire.

Although the Fire did not overcome the Southside Flyers in Sunday’s grand final in front of a sell-out crowd, Seebohm received a notable accolade after his side defied the odds and hub life to emerge as one of the competition’s top teams.

In just his second campaign with Townsville, Seebohm was named as the WNBL coach of the year and said he was touched by the recognition.

“It is not why you coach, but it is always nice to be recognised for having a successful season,” he said. “We had a great year and I am just really fortunate to coach such a brilliant group of girls.

“So, whenever you are able to have that success as a group and be recognised for it is really nice.”

The Fire entered the COVID-19 interrupted 2020 season on the back foot after a tough campaign in Seebohm’s debut coaching the team.

Seebohm said a revamp during the offseason helped Townsville rise from the bottom of the ladder to the top two.

“I came in last season and we had a tough year, but we have managed to turn it around and get into the grand final,” he said. “It started in our offseason when we had a lot of turnover on our roster with eight new players.

“We tried to make sure we were recruiting the right type of people, who could also fit well together on the court.

“We spent a lot of time trying to implement a culture and value system we wanted to have.

“The players have done a great job buying into that and I think it has shown on the court.”

All eight WNBL sides entered a North Queensland hub to make the 2020 season possible.

The usual 21-game fixture was shortened to 13 rounds and Seebohm said the challenge of fighting through the condensed season was tough, but rewarding.

“It has been incredible and something I will always remember for the rest of my career,” he said. “The biggest challenge has been the short turnaround between games and lack of time to prepare for each opponent.

“It has been extremely challenging being away from family, but everyone has done a great job under the circumstances playing hard every game and sticking together.”

The Fire’s golden moment arrived in the preliminary final against the Melbourne Boomers.

The sudden-death match went down to the wire and the Boomers came within three points of stealing the grand-final berth away from Townsville.

But the Fire held on and Seebohm said the achievement of reaching the decider could not be understated. “It was definitely a nail-biter and credit to Melbourne for such a tough game,” he said. “Our players worked extremely hard in the offseason and coming from the bottom last season to play for a championship was amazing.

“Credit to our players and management for believing in the vision we had when we set out to recruit this team.”

Seebohm was born into basketball with his father Peter an integral part of the Millicent Basketball Association.

He spent almost more time on the basketball court than home and was well on the way to becoming a successful player in his own right.

The Millicent talent was ready to take the NBL by storm for the South Dragons after representing Australia at the Under 19 World Championships.

However, a freakish near-death experience forced Seebohm to end his playing days and turn his attention to coaching. “I played one year in the NBL with a team in Melbourne, but during that season I suffered a cardiac arrest at training because I had a medical condition I was not aware of at the time,” he said.

“That forced me into an early retirement, but from there I got into coaching. “I spent some time as an assistant coach with the Sydney Kings and was the head coach of the Sydney Flames in the women’s league for a couple of years.”

With Seebohm well and truly back on his feet and enjoying success on the court again, the future is bright.

He recently re-signed to coach Townsville until 2024 and after leading the club to an unexpected grand final, the 32-year-old is excited about what his group can achieve next.

“I think this year we have put a great core group of players together and had a lot of success,” Seebohm said. “I play a different style of basketball to maybe some of the other teams in our league which gives us a bit of an advantage.

“We are also the youngest team in terms of average age in the competition. “If we can retain a lot of our players and continue to grow, we are going to be a really tough team to beat for years to come.”