Sirens Tip Off WNBL At Home

NZPA

The fledgling Christchurch Sirens franchise will host the first match of the Australian Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) tipping off in three months.

The Sirens will play the Townsville Fire on October 5 at the Westpac Centre in Christchurch, the first of 24 matches they will play in an expanded regular season that stretches to late February.

Their schedule then sees them play six games in Australia in the space of 15 days, underlining the intense nature of the competition.

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Originals Return

Foundation players Phill Jones and Paora Winitana will return to the Harvey Norman NZ Breakers are returning to the team for the upcoming Philips Championship season, starting in September.

The signing of the Tall Black guards, who both played for the Breakers in their inaugural Australian NBL campaign in 2003/2004, completes the recruitment of “local” players.

They will be part of an 11-strong roster, one more than usual, of which six are Kiwis. Only the two import spots are still to be filled.

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2007 Oreo U17 Championships Coaching Clinic

Saturday, July 7
12.30-2.30pm
QE Youth Centre, Tauranga

Attacking Zone Defeneces (Tim McTamney) & Effecitve Coaching Principles (Greg Cummings)

Attacking Zone Defences
Former Junior Tall Blacks and Waikato Pistons head coach Tim McTamney will share his ideas on attacking zone defences.

Effective Coaching Principles
Sport Bay of Plenty coaching manager Greg Cummings manages the very successful Sport BOP CoachForce programme.

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Kiwi Guys Break Duck

Wellington forward Chris McIntyre registered a “double double” to help the Emerging Junior Tall Blacks to their first win at the Australian U16 Championships in Gosford.

Full Results

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Class of 07

Former NZ Tall Black Christopher Reay will return to national consideration when he joins the NZ team at the World University Games in Bangkok, August 8-18.

Reay (22) trialed for the 2004 Athens Olympics and was selected for the pre-Games series against Australia, playing in the second test victory at Christchurch.

Born and raised in Texas, he qualifies for New Zealand representation through his Kiwi dad and has one more year left at Midwestern State University.

The NZ Universities team features several fringe internationals, who should go on to full Tall Black status in the future.

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Toops Steps Up

Although small by basketball standards, former NZ Tall Black point guard Chris Tupu (1.73m) has never shirked big challenges … this could be the biggest of his career.

“Toops” has already been named rookie head coach for newly crowned NBL champions Blue Chip Nelson Giants next season, following in the footsteps of the league’s winningest coach, Nenad Vucinic. Phew.

“The title definitely brings added pressure,” concedes Tupu (38), who spent this past season as Vucinic’s apprentice.

“Nelson have a pretty loyal, supportive bunch of fans who will be expecting us to do our best to defend the title. I’m up for that challenge.

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Putting On A Gameface

Basketball apparel manufacturer Gameface have won a double victory, securing the uniform contract for Basketball New Zealand and successfully defending its logo against a legal challenge from Major League Baseball.

Gameface already outfits Canterbury representative teams, including the NBL Scenic Circle Rams, and their deal with BBNZ will cater to all national teams, including the NZ Tall Blacks and NZ Tall Ferns, for three years.

“We’re excited,” says owner Joe Hammond. “I think we are the best suited company for Basketball New Zealand.

Gameface website

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Greece Is The Word

Former NZ Tall Black maestro Tab Baldwin has been thrown a European coaching lifeline, signing for two years with Greek club PAOK Thessaloniki.

American-born Baldwin will be charged with resurrecting an outfit that was once one of the best in Europe, but have struggled more recently. PAOK last won the Greek championship in 1992, but were eliminated in the quarterfinals last year after compiling a 15-11 record in the regular season.

“They have a great tradition and a huge fan base of over two million,” says Baldwin. “They have an 8000-seat stadium, but the last few years have seen hard times, particularly financially.

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Shoot Out!

Kiwi Zane Meehl continued his scoring blitz of the Queensland Australia Basketball League as Maroochydore Clippers overcame South West Metro Pirates 138-126.

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Taking Aim

Just two days after guiding Nelson Giants to an NBL championship, new NZ Tall Black coach Nenad Vucinic has turned his attention to another challenge – getting the national men’s team to the Beijing Olympics.

“It has been amazing week, but we now have to refocus,” warns Vucinic, who takes charge after six years as assistant to Tab Baldwin.

“I will be bringing in new systems and the players will be expected to improve themselves as individuals so we can be better as a team.

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Sits Vacant

Nugs Coach & Academy Director
Basketball Otago are calling for applications for the positions of Nuggets head coach and men’s academy director.
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Leagues Manager
Canterbury Basketball Association is seeking to appoint a leagues manager, with specific responsibility for the two franchise teams competing in national leagues programmes - the Sirens in the Australian WNBL and the Rams in the New Zealand NBL.
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Lingor Drives Breeze

American Jenny Lingor compiled a “double double” to help Curves Harbour Breeze sweep aside Gameface Canterbury Wildcats for the Women’s National Basketball Invitational title with a 90-58 win at Northcote AUT.

Lingor had 23 points (7/13 FG, 6/9 3pt, 3/4 FT), 11 rebounds, three assists and three steals to push her claims for an import spot on the Christchurch Sierns roster to contest their debut season in the defencejobs Australian WNBL next summer.

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Book Closes In Style

He took an age to complete one last circuit of his old stamping ground, the one that had finally provided him what he had pursued for 13 years – the Dominion Finance NBL championship.

Nelson’s Trafalgar Centre (aka The Hangar) contains perhaps the craziest and most dedicated fans in New Zealand basketball. There was only one thing they wanted to see more than their beloved Blue Chip Nelson Giants winning their third title in 13 years and this was it … Ed “The Big Easy” Book raising that trophy up for the first and last time in his career.

“It’s hard to describe how I feel right now,” he admitted, after inspiring the Giants to a 96-83 victory over Easy LPG Bay Hawks in the championship decider.

Pic Gallery

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Penney A Breaker

A year-long courtship has culminated in NZ Tall Black Kirk Penney signing with the Harvey Norman NZ Breakers for the forthcoming Philips Championship basketball season.

The 26-year-old guard, one of only two New Zealanders to ever play in the NBA, will join the club after the Tall Blacks’ international programme. He will make his Breakers debut on September 20 at the North Shore Events Centre.

Penney has not been based in New Zealand since he left for the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1999. A desire to return home and a chance to help the Breakers up the Australian NBL ladder were the driving forces behind his signing.

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X's & O's - Basic Movement Patterns For Children

At a recent seminar, we were told about the importance of children learning all the basic movement patterns at a young age so that their progression was not held up by deficiency in basic movement patterns.

The basic movement patterns are ...

Landing (from jumps)

Spring (like leap frog)

Statics (balance)

Locomotion (running)

Rotation (rolls)

Swing (hitting golf, hockey, tennis)

Manipulative skills (passing, catching, holding)

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