OCEANIA COACHES STUDY TOUR REPORT - Fiba Oceania

Two discussion points that Lindsay said have stuck firmly in my mind. The first was in regards to
sharing knowledge; he said that early on in his friendship with coach Bobby Knight, he was blown
away by Coach Knight’s willingness to spend time with him discussing basketball.
I left thinking that if someone as respected as Lindsay Gaze had such an opinion of coach Knight, I’d
better read up and improve my knowledge of Coach Knight. I purchased the book ‘My Story’ by
Bobby Knight and Bob Hammel and very much enjoyed reading it.
The second point from Lindsay was simply “no excuses”- just get it done. When someone who has
achieved and overcome as many obstacles as Coach Gaze has, this is very motivating.
The tour moved to Canberra, and the AIS. Time spent at the AIS is always extremely valuable. I have
been a little spoilt in the number of times I have been lucky enough to attend the AIS, however I am
always amazed at the number of resources available in the National Information Centre (Library).
Both Head Coaches set time aside to discuss basketball with the tour group, and opened their entire
program to us. Australian basketball are fortunate to have such a program, and coaches of such a high
standard.
Was fantastic to have the opportunity to observe an Opals versus Tall Ferns game…think I was the
only one in the crowd cheering the Tall Ferns on!!! Would have really enjoyed observing an Opals or
Tall Ferns practise but unfortunately the schedule didn’t allow for it.
Travelled to Ballarat, from the AIS, that was a trip and a half, observed the Victorian Country Under
18 Men’s and Women’s State Teams train. This was valuable, as it then gave me the opportunity to
compare to the NZ National Junior Camps.
Our next destination was Bendigo where we observed an Under 12 Club Tournament. Playing
standard was high, the organisation outstanding and the venue just mind-blowing. The venue had at
least 7 courts, a restaurant, a bar, function rooms and more offices than I could count. And it was
“primarily” for basketball. We also spent time with the ABA Coach and the Junior Development
Officer, it was valuable to hear what happens the level down from the ITC Program.
The final item on the agenda was a luncheon with Basketball Australia’s President John Maddock. His
pride in Basketball Australia’s achievements is obvious. He laid down a challenge to all the Oceania
Coaches to set three goals to achieve in our home country, and requested we email them through to
him. He then asked that in a year’s time, the coaches contact him to let him know if the goals set were
achieved. He emphasised not setting goals too easy to achieve. I thought this a very motivational
method of ensuring the coaches involved, gave back to the basketball community in their home
country, with a good method to measure success.
In summary, the tour group observed numerous Australian coaches doing what they all loved best –
coaching.
The coaches on the inaugural Oceania Coaches Study Tour all realise how fortunate we were to be
involved in this program, I would recommend all coaches to apply for the next tour, the experience
simply is too valuable for words.
Rachel Gwerder
FIBA Oceania Coaches Study Tour to Australia 2004
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