Home, Where The Heart Is
BBNZ caught up with Kennedy, as part of the WBC tournament. The original link to their article can be found by clicking here
Tall Ferns coach KENNEDY KEREAMA admits his attendance at this weekend’s WOMEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP round in Christchurch is partly business, partly pleasure.
“Basketball is my pleasure,” he grins. “Officially, I’ve come over for the purpose of selecting for the Tall Ferns programme and put the final list together for trials in August.
“But they haven’t had women’s basketball in Christchurch for a long time, so it’s also pretty special to come home and see two of my early mentors – PHIL BURNS and PINA LISSAMAN – coaching the Wildcats.”
Kereama is entering his third season in charge of the national women’s team, having just completed his first as a head coach in the Australian WNBL, albeit with bottom-of-the-table West Coast Waves.
“Success is always measured by results,” he admits. “But this was a programme in dire straits – it had a really poor culture, no strength and conditioning programme, no nutritional programme.
“It was a professional programme in name, but not by nature. For me, it was about introducing people who could bring a winning.”
He has tried to bring a similar approach to his Ferns, a programme struggling for funding and heavily reliant on the determination of its participants for survival.
When assessing players for any of his teams, Kereama has five selection criteria …
• Character – “very difficult to judge from a game of basketball, but could include body language and how they react to things”
• Physical attributes – “how fit or athletic are they”
• Mental attributes – “mental toughness, how they handle adversity or pressure”
• Basketball IQ – “how quickly can they pick things up and adjust to situations”
• Basketball skills – “can they play to their strengths, handle the ball, shoot the ball, all the fundamentals”
These are the benchmarks he’ll be considering when he watches the talent on show in Christchurch this weekend.
With the Ferns due to meet Australia in world championship qualifying in August, Kereama has several spots to fill, due to retirements and unavailability. He’s also keeping an eye open for the next wave of players ready for the step up.
Kereama has tapped into his network of NZ-based coaches for feedback on some of the new names emerging through the WBC and age group programmes – players like PENINA DAVIDSON (Auckland Lady Hawks) and KALANI PURCELL (Waikato Wizards).
He’s particularly keen to catch up with Beijing Olympian SUZIE BATES, who has since become one of the world’s best women’s cricketers, but turned out for Otago in the last WBC round. She averaged 12.5 points a game, shooting a competition-best 58.1% from the field.
“Suzie makes the people around her better players and I’m tremendously proud of all the accolades that have come her way through cricket.
“I’ve spoken to her about coming back into the programme – cricket is her first priority, but the fact she’s playing means she’s put her hand up and wants to be selected.”
DON’T FORGET …
Tall Ferns coach Kennedy Kereama will run an on-court session for players, open to all WBC coaches at 1.30-3.30pm, Saturday, May 4 at Cowles Stadium.
This will be followed Question & Answer session for coaches. Contact JAMES LISSAMAN (james@canterburybasketball.co.nz).
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Christchurch
Friday, May 3
2pm
Rotorua Lady Vols v Nelson Sparks
Referees: Toni Smith-Hunwick & Gareth Teahan
Live stats
5pm
Auckland Lady Hawks v Oceana Gold Rush Otago
Referees: Ryan Jones & Leon Demetriades
Live stats
Waikato Wizards v Hutt Valley-Porirua Flyers
Referees: Gareth Teahan & Sam Dixon
Live stats
7pm
Good Home Taranaki Thunder v Canterbury Wildcats
Referees: Leon Demetriades & Nick Naylor
Live stats
Harbour Breeze v Nelson Sparks
Referees: Ryan Jones & Marty Davison
Live stats
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