The Star: September 08, 2016

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Sport
Thursday September 8 2016
Weekday coverage of local sport
with Gordon Findlater
The Star
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Christ’s recruit top coaching staff
Basketball
team
qualifies for
nationals
• By Gordon Findlater
CHRIST’S COLLEGE has
made history, qualifying for
the secondary schools’ national
basketball championships for the
first time ever.
Christ’s finished third at the
weekend’s South Island qualifying
tournament. Their previous
best effort was 14th, which they
achieved 12 months ago.
Christ’s basketball programme
has somewhat emulated the rapid
rise of their rugby programme
with the help of a high-profile
coaching duo.
This year, the Christ’s first XV
rugby team experienced their
best season in decades under the
guidance of former All Black
captain Reuben Thorne and former
Crusaders player Cameron
McIntyre.
Canterbury Rams captain
Marques Whippy took on the
role of basketball head coach at
Christ’s last year and, in recent
months, has been joined by current
Rams coach and former Tall
Blacks point guard Mark Dickel,
who has been helping the team
in an assistant role.
“Mark’s great at motivating the
kids. The practices leading up
to the tournament were pretty
intense, but it helps when you
have a coach who has played
and coached at a high level,” said
Christ’s head coach Whippy.
The days of teachers coaching
top secondary school teams are
beginning to look like a thing of
the past, with many examples
of prominent athletes, past and
present, taking on coaching roles
at secondary school.
Some include Anna Thompson
coaching the Rangi Ruru netball
team, and former All White
Danny Hay coaching the Sacred
Heart College first XI in Auckland.
“Rugby’s probably one that’s
led the way with regards to that.
A lot of schools around the country
do have top ex-players who
are part of their programme. It
seems to be the reality of it at the
TEAM TALK: Marques Whippy (left) and Mark Dickel lay down
their instructions during a time-out in last week’s South Island
championships.
moment, but they’re not always
easy to come by,” said Christ’s
director of sport Rob Clarke.
The school went to the South
Island tournament in Ashburton
with the objective of finishing
in the top six and qualifying for
nationals.
They won four of five pool
games to qualify for the quarter
finals. Their only pool game loss
came at the hands of tournament
winners Christchurch Boys’
High School.
Christ’s took on Nelson College
in the quarter finals, knowing
a win would assure them of a
spot at nationals.
With the game poised, Nelson
made a free throw to take a one
point lead with just six seconds
remaining. Christ’s had one
final chance to win the game.
Star player Will Harrison drove
towards the basket and then
passed the ball cross court to
find Sam McGuire who hit the
game winning shot.
The 70-69 victory cemented
Christ’s spot at the national
championship. They then lost
70-82 to Nelson College in the
semi-final before defeating
Cashmere High School 83-81 to
finish third.
“We’ve never beaten Cashmere
this year. We played them maybe
three times and usually lost by
20 points. That was probably
the best basketball I’ve seen the
boys play and it came from hard
work,” said Whippy.
Christ’s will join Christchurch
BHS and Cashmere in the
national championships in
Palmerston North later this
month.
1503AM