One of them was unconventional in the way he moved, creating intercepts and steals out of nothing and making it really difficult to play defence on him.

One of them was a match winner – give him a mission and he would go out and deliver.

Some of them didn’t like training drills, just wanting to join in for scrimmaging or playing matches.

Those among them that also played footy, brought a toughness and an ability to read the play to stay one step ahead.

Some had to have all the latest gear – wearing a seemingly endless supply of shooting sleeves and new boots.

Some were injury prone and were constantly putting our managers to the test with how much could be done with bandaids, strapping tape and ice.

Give me a child until he is eleven and I will give you the player – with apologies to Michael Apted of the 7 Up series!!  I present to you our Hawks U12 State Championships Div 1 team from 2009 – 6 years down the track.  A gorgeous bunch of chubby cheeked ballers have grown up (unlike their Coach who grew out), making up a significant portion of our current U18 programme and I think likely to significantly contribute to our SBL programme in the next 6 years.  Many of the basketball and personality traits they exhibited in 2009 remain today – their various coaches have rubbed off a few of the rough edges but ultimately they are similar players today that they were 6 years ago. Of the ten boys in the original photo, eight of them went on to play in the U14 National Club Championships in either 2011 or 2012.  Four of them have represented WA in basketball.  Seven are still playing for Hawks, one for another club, one has returned to footy and the other to tennis.

It has been a pleasure to watch these boys develop their basketball over the past 6 years.  It was great to watch the 18-1s and 18-2s soundly beat Willetton at WABL a couple of weeks ago – the team we lost to in the semifinals in the 2009 State Championships.  I also note how many excellent 3 point shooters we have in this group – a skill that was an automatic benching if they attempted in matches I coached!  As with my previous teams, they all tried to renegotiate this rule – “but what if I make it?” was the usual query.  My belief was that the kids couldn’t use good technique to shoot that far from the basket at their age and so I wouldn’t allow it.  So I’m going to take some of the credit for their great 3 point shooting – making them develop their shooting technique from an achievable range as young juniors has helped them in the long run become better shooters.

Besides the fact that these were a lovely group of boys to coach, they have grown into fine young men who look you in the eye when they see you and are happy to say hello and have a chat.  What more could we ask of our sons and club mates?

(In addition to the boys pictured above I make honourable mentions of Rhys Hohenstein and Cameron Green having played in our Div 2 team at State Champs in 2009 but being part of the development programme all year and also playing U18s for us this year and Yuval Gurfinkel who played up in our WABL U13 team in 2009).

 

 

Article - Kerry Clarke