Having been in the game for 30 years, Men’s Team Head Coach Shawn Dennis has enjoyed an accomplished career as both a player and coach. His impressive stint spanning three decades, has seen him hold appointments in Newcastle, Townsville, Tasmania, Sydney, New Zealand and Perth.

From his early days playing in the NBL for the Newcastle Falcons and a season in the middle with the Hobart Devils, Shawn then transitioned into coaching – his appointments have included state, national and international positions.

This is Shawn’s first season as a coach in the SBL and he’s enjoying working with the great group of players and coaches in the Hawks men’s team. 

Shawn shares his thoughts on the team’s progress and favourite moments so far this season as well as the story about his own basketball journey and highlights. 

(Photos from top to bottom: Team Hawks timeout huddle, Shawn as the front runner in Newcastle Falcons Poster - 1988, Shawn rocking the hot pants and high socks, 2006 NZNBL Championship - Hawkes Bay Hawks, in action during a Perth Wildcats game, SD with his good friend MC and Hawks Captain Ben Purser).

What are your thoughts on the season to date?

This season has been very fruitful so far. In my wildest dreams I didn’t think we would be sitting where we are on top with a 7 and 0 record. I’m also very realistic and know that we will not be flying under the radar any longer and will become a team that everybody will want to beat. Being the only undefeated team now makes us the standard setters and now all teams will lift to reach that standard. This just means we have to lift ourselves especially in our commitment to the systems we are trying to implement.

For a lot of the players, they have never had to play the way we want them to and so it’s a challenge for them. I am very pedantic about certain things, especially on defence and offensive spacing, so I will jump very quickly when they are doing it incorrectly. I see in their reactions that the players are not overly used to this. So it is a challenge for these young men to allow themselves to be coached and take it on board. I’m by no means saying they haven’t been shown the things I’m doing, for I am sure they have. I think the difference is that I demand they do it right and no player, regardless of their so-called status, is exempt from being told when they are doing it wrong.

Overall though I couldn’t be more pleased with how the players are responding and the position they have put themselves in. Our challenge now is to ensure we don’t rest on our laurels and keep improving, otherwise other teams will catch us and pass us very quickly.

Team strengths and areas for improvement?

The strength of this team is its versatility coupled with the great blend of youth and experience. When I watched the Hawks play last year, I felt that they lacked experience in the point guard position and noticed that they often became quite flustered when under pressure. So when I was appointed head coach, the first player I recruited was Michael Lay from Geraldton. Michael is arguably the best point guard in the competition and if he is not the best, he is very close. Michael is one of the hardest workers at training so I knew we had a winner.

A real break came when a player I had coached before contacted me about playing for the Hawks. Adrian (AJ) Majstrovich is one of the most potent offensive players I have ever worked with and also a very misunderstood player as well. Adrian often gets a very poor rap for the way he plays. As a coach, I have been fortunate to coach AJ and I have had nothing but success with him in the team. In AJ we have a proven winner and a player that opposition teams must guard or before they know it, he will have a bundle of points. This was proven earlier in the year when AJ had 18 points in one  quarter against Mandurah. So with two very good veterans in place to go with our youth we now have the mix that makes us very poised under pressure - one of the key areas that I thought we needed to improve in the team.

The great thing for me is that then we also picked up Corey Easley and young Wildcats development players Rob Cassir and Tevin Jackson. When you add this to the already young Hawks team, we now have a lot of versatility in the group. We may be a little undersized but we can now run, play tough defence and play poised under pressure.

One real key for me that will become more and more of a strength is the leadership of our young captain Ben Purser. Ben is only 23 and very young for a captain but is a natural leader. As he matures into this role this year, he will become an integral part of our success. I also feel the added responsibility will only enhance his own development and help him achieve his goal of being an NBL player.

The main area of improvement is to learn that discipline is huge and that this goes along way to being successful. The team is working hard at this and I am sure you will see improvement every week. 

As Head Coach, what are your main goals and focuses this season?

My main focus as coach this season was to help change the culture of the club and built better links with our juniors. I also wanted to teach the players that you actually play against the game itself, not an opposition. If you look at who you are playing every week before you go out on the floor, it can lead to inconsistent performance. Just as looking at the score board can do the same.

What do I mean by this? How often do you hear the word complacency used? Why do teams become complacent? Because they look at their record, they look at the score or they look at whom they are playing and relax. I’m trying to teach our guys that all of those things are irrelevant. Because your only focus should be on the processes of how to play the game to the level you wish to achieve. If this is always your focus then who you play, what the score is or what your record is will never enter the equation. Your only goal will be to be better every time you come off the floor whether it’s training or a game.

As Anthony Robbins preaches ‘Constant and Neverending Improvement (CANI).’ I know if we improve in this area alone then we will constantly improve our play on the court. Winning will be a by-product of this because we will compete in every game.

Your favourite moments during the season so far?

My favourite part of this season so far has been watching the players evolve into a very competitive team that has an opportunity to do very well. The more we improve, the more I see the players realise just how good they can be. It’s not without its challenges but it’s a lot of fun that’s for sure. I love the look Ben Dixon gets on his face when he hits a big shot for us. Ben doesn’t say much, but to see that little smile creep onto his face is a pleasing moment for a coach. It’s the type of thing that makes you love coaching.

The same can be said about Ryan O’Sullivan. Against Mandurah, Sulli hit a very big shot for us late in the game and for a player that has played very little at this level, it was a pleasure to see. Watching Jackson Simkovic evolve as the season goes on is incredible. The young man has so much potential and I don’t think he has any idea about how good he could be. As each game passes, the more I think he is realising he belongs at this level. He has unlimited potential as do many of our young players. When you go through the players I have mentioned above and then add in Rob Cassir, Tevin Jackson, Alby Hunter, Rory Pekin and Ben Purser, you see an average of just over twenty years old. This is very exciting for the future of Hawks. What an incredible situation to be in as a club.

I love working with aspiring coaches and so this year I decided to include four assistant coaches. Some may see this as overkill but I see it as a chance to give back to the game through helping other coaches develop. There is a great saying in the world that I love: “You can give a man a fish and feed him for a day or you can teach a man to fish and feed him for life.” That is my goal here, to give opportunities for coaches to develop. In Charles Nix, Alan Watts, Peter Barrow and Josh Farnworth, I have four very enthusiastic coaches who each have their own strengths. I enjoy discussing the different areas of the game with them and watching them run a drill or section during training. One thing for sure is that they are getting thrown into the deep end, as I am not a coach that lets his assistants’ just stand around. I expect them to get in and be involved. As the year goes on their roles will expand. I am fortunate to have four such capable coaches in their own right and I will enjoy watching them evolve. 

Share your basketball journey – from the playing days through the coaching ranks to where you are now.

Like all coaches, I could talk a long time about this and I’m sure there isn’t enough room for it. But, in a nutshell I started playing the game as a ten year old in Swan Hill - a small town of 8000 people in country Victoria. I immediately fell in love with the game. As a junior I never really reached great heights but always loved the game so much. I never made a state team and in fact was a far better footballer (AFL). I didn’t play basketball for nearly 18 months as I pursued a football career. I had moved to Wangaratta, a town of 16,000 people by the time I was in year 12 and I made my senior debut for the Wangaratta Rovers in the very good Ovens and Murray competition. 

I actually got to play against Gary Ablett (I’m sure he really remembers this just like I do…hahahaha) as he was playing for Myrtleford at this point in time before he went to Geelong. I ended up playing for North Melbourne under 19’s under Denis Pagan. However there was one problem, my love and passion for basketball never waned. I ended up quitting North Melbourne played out the footy season back in Wangaratta and then quit football altogether. To this day, I’ve only ever played one game of football since I was 18.

My basketball journey was about to really swing into top gear. I went back to school and starting making the trek up to Albury to play in the SEABL while completing my year 12 studies. From there I was noticed by the Newcastle Falcons while playing a game against the Newcastle Hunters. The following year I moved to Newcastle which became home for the next 18 years. While I had a couple of years away, Newcastle was truly home. After playing 197 games in the NBL with Newcastle and Hobart, I moved into coaching. In fact I spent the last three years of my playing career as a playing assistant coach. I was in charge of all of our video scouting and player development. In 1996 I retired from playing and became a full time assistant coach with the Newcastle Falcons.

In 1997, head coach Tom Wisman took up a coaching opportunity in Japan and I was thrust into the head coach’s position. Like all young coaches, I thought I was ready but the cold hard facts were that I wasn’t. I did as good a job as I could but I was far too inexperienced. Unfortunately the Falcons ended up closing the doors in 1999 and I moved to Wollongong to be an assistant to Brendan Joyce. When financial constraints meant that I couldn’t stay at Wollongong, I moved back to Newcastle. I became involved with the Maitland Mustangs, coached a couple of under 18 state teams and really threw myself into coaching juniors. I worked with the NITP groups, often sleeping on the stadium floors at camps like all the other coaches. The camps where great fun and I will never forget the fun times we had. It’s been great to see the different players we worked with go on to be great players.

In late 2003, an opportunity came up to coach in New Zealand and I moved to Napier. I coached the Hawkes Bay Hawks for seven seasons. In that time we won the clubs first and only Championship to date. We made the playoffs every year and I gained invaluable experience as a coach. It was a great learning time for me as a person and a coach. While coaching the Hawks in NZ I also was able to become part of the coaching staff of the senior women’s national team attending the Commonwealth games in 2006. I also coached the junior women’s team, becoming head coach for one year in 2010.

In terms of the NBL, I joined Rob Beveridge in Sydney for two seasons with the West Sydney Razorbacks/Sydney Spirit and then when Bevo moved to Perth I went back to Hawkes Bay. At the end of the 2010 season, I decided I had to return to Australia. I didn’t know what I would do but I knew that I couldn’t achieve much more in NZ and I needed new challenges or I would still be coaching in Hawkes Bay in years to come. 

While that would have been a nice lifestyle, it was not the reason I moved there and I knew if I didn’t move soon I would be stuck there and never achieve my goals. Interestingly the moment I made the decision, two job opportunities came up. One was to coach the Country Victoria NITP program and one was here in Perth. In the end the opportunity to be reunited with Bevo and to work with the Perth Wildcats was too good an opportunity to pass up.

Since being in Perth for the last three NBL seasons, I was asked to coach in the SBL each year. I declined each time as I was very tired from so much coaching - this was the first opportunity I had to actually take a break in between seasons. Then when the job at the Perry Lakes Hawks became vacant last year, I jumped at the chance to be part of this great club. My fiancé Alana and I always attended the games so I had a fair idea about the team and the club. Now I’m a part of it and very much loving working with the team. 

What have been some of the highlights throughout your basketball journey?

The biggest highlight without a doubt is the fact that I work in basketball. While there isn’t a lot of job security, it really is the best. I wake up every morning knowing no matter how good or bad I feel, I’m going in to work to do a job I love and wouldn’t change for the world. As I always say, my worst day is most likely a lot of people’s best day. Teaching people to play the game is very satisfying and along with the passion I have for this great game, it is the best.

Basketball has taken me all around the world. I’ve made lifelong friends that funnily enough Facebook has allowed me to stay in contact with. The game itself actually introduced me to my beautiful fiancé Alana. If it wasn’t for the game, I doubt our paths would have ever crossed.

While there have been many sacrifices along the way there are far more high points. I could be like everybody else and talk about individual accolades but the biggest highlight for me is having a life that has included so many great experiences because of basketball. I played for 10 years, which was a highlight. We made the playoffs but never won a championship. Below are a few of the highlights I have cherished throughout my career.

• In 1993, I spent a month at Indiana University to watch legendary coach Bob Knight. That was such an incredible experience. Being able to watch such a great coach in action every day was invaluable.

• Coaching the under 18 women’s team in Maitland in 2003 was awesome. My daughter was the team’s mascot and the team had never played in 1^st division. Those girls worked so hard and we played in 1^st division making the semi finals and missing out on going to the state championships by one basket. It took a bank shot from the top of the key to beat us against a team the girls had never gotten to within 20 points before. That was an incredible and humbling experience.

• Getting to work with Rob Beveridge when he coached the under 20 National team that included Perth Wildcats players Matt Knight, Damian Martin and Rhys Carter. In fact, Andrew Bogut was also part of that team and they went on to win the Gold medal at the World Championships. What a thrill to be given a small opportunity to be part of that.

• The move to Napier in 2004 was a big step in my career and also meant massive sacrifices. Along with then owner Jeremy Bayliss, we were able to take the club into the playoffs and to win their one and only Championship in 2006. To work beside Jeremy was an absolute pleasure and the things I learnt will stick with me forever. I am forever indebted to him. He has been a major influence on my life and career.

• To be part of a National team and attend the Commonwealth games in 2006. What an experience to walk out to a packed MCG amongst so many amazing athletes. It made realise how lucky I am.

• Also in 2006 I was awarded a $50000 scholarship that took me all over the world on a study tour. I went to Japan, throughout Australia, throughout the USA and to Brazil. I learnt just so much and it was amazing.

• Being appointed as the NZ National Women’s head coach. It was incredible because of the way we were able to reignite a flagging program. With the help of my close friend and then boss Jeremy Bayliss, we were able to take the team with a very little budget and have them feel like elite athletes. We got to play a game against Japan in front of 1800 people in Napier. Doesn’t sound like much but when you looked at where the team had come from it was huge. The team was so young and missing so many players. The look on the young players faces was priceless. None had ever played in front of so many people and there had never been a crowd like that to watch a women’s game in NZ. So it was a first.

• Lastly, what a highlight it was to return to working with Bevo (a real friend and mentor to me) and to become part of the Wildcats. Then this year, what a highlight to be part of the opening of the new Perth Arena. When you walk out in front of the amazing crowd there it is huge and you are overwhelmed with a sense of pride. It’s the best feeling and you realise just how privileged you are to do what you do.