It is with great interest that I am starting to see players from the successful 2002 World Championship campaign starting wind down their careers. A number of them are choosing to move into the world of coaching. This surely can only bode well for the future of basketball in New Zealand.

This year we see one of the smartest players to play the game Pero Cameron take over at Wellington. I am sure we will all watch from afar with great interest to see how he transfers from the playing floor into the hot seat. One thing you do know with Pero is he will have quite a respect amongst the players. Other players to start to show their interest in coaching are Dillon Boucher and Paul Henare. If you look at all three of the above mentioned players they have all been players that thought a lot about what was happening on the court. Coaches of all three players constantly talk about how great these guys were at understanding what is needed.

To give you an example: In game with the Hawks a few years ago my assistant at the time recommended to me that I call a time out to call a play. I said no because I had faith that Paulie would know what to do. Sure enough Paulie called a play and we got the ball inside to Kareem Johnson and scored. I always believed that Dillon did similar things with the Stars and Pero with Waikato. In fact they do it with any team they play for. So moving into the coaching will be made easier for these guys as they have always been like a coach on the floor anyway.

A person I am very happy to see back in coaching this year is Kirsten Daly. Kirsten was the first female coach to take a job in the NBL and has tremendous potential as a coach. A former Tall Fern point guard Kirsten has a great understanding of the game and a very strong personality which is often needed in coaching as you are hit with many different emotions during a season and how you deal with these will possibly decide how you coach. After taking a few years off to start a family it is great that Kirst is back and involved.

You then look at coaches such as Chris Tupu at Nelson, Richard Dickel at Southland, Jud Flavell at Harbour, Dean Vickerman at Waikato, Angelo Hill at Taranaki, Andrew Gardner at Christchurch and you resalise that coaching is one aspect that the NBL has really started to improve on. If we can get our pathways improved then we can start to produce some tremendous players that will help our national team to no end. The coaches are fresh and enthusiastic.

Entering my seventh year with the Hawks and I know I have to work harder than ever to get an advantage. In my first few years in the league the coaching overall was not as good. It now seems that every team is pretty well coached. You have to be much better prepared or you lose.

With energy

Shawn Dennis