By John-Paul Moloney

Sitting on the coaching bench during Saturday's semi-final, her heart beating frantically and her team trailing by 16 points, Shelley Sandie didn't look like a woman easing her way out of basketball.

She looked fit enough to be out there and every bit as emotionally affected by the match as any of the Canberra Capitals on the court.

This season, Sandie's first off the court, has given the 300-game WNBL veteran the chance to wean herself away from the game as coach Tom Maher's assistant.

But last Saturday, when Lauren Jackson heroicly rescued the team from defeat, the distance from the game that coaches usually enjoy disappeared in one of Caps' most emotional wins in a very long time.

"It was unbelievably tense," Sandie said. "It looked a bit hopeless there for a minute, but the girls have shown so much character all season, and you can never discount the Caps."

After retiring as a player in 2002 in the best possible way, with her second championship and WNBL life membership, Sandie couldn't just walk away from the sport.

So she joined Maher's coaching staff and has found the role useful in her transition from the core of the team to the outside world.

"I haven't missed running up and down and beating each other up at training, but games are really hard, with the atmosphere and the emotion that you have," Sandie said.

After the grand final Sandie will make the next step away from the game, opening a new cafe-bar in Campbell with Colin Bailie, husband of Capitals captain Lucille Bailie.

Sandie said the venture would distract her from a lifetime spent playing basketball, but right now her focus was on next weekend's final.