Head coach job tops Hunter’s career

BY: ALAN APTED

Tania Hunter is a basketball coach on the rise.

The former army truck driver-turned-operations manager of the Allan Brewster Recreation Centre in Papatoetoe is the new head coach of the New Zealand under-20 women’s team.

The appointment is the pinnacle of a coaching career that began in the humble surroundings of the Makora College gymnasium in Masterton about 30 years ago.

It is also a coming of age for Hunter who has devoted countless hours to ensuring Counties Manukau and New Zealand age group players develop their passion for the game and its fundamentals.

Hunter says she owes it all to Australian school teacher Viki Rutter who introduced basketball to Makaroa College.

"We were a rugby and netball school but by the time she left, basketball had become the number one sport," she says. "We finished fourth in our first year at the nationals and the game just took off after that. There were games being played at every break, such was its popularity."

Rutter’s insistence that every player become a coach had plenty to do with Makora’s love affair with basketball, says Hunter.

"It’s how I ended up becoming a coach," she says.

"I was into netball and tennis. Then one day I walked into the gym to give basketball a go and that was it."

Hunter says she has become more involved than she’d have thought possible.

She says she fell for the game the first day she tried it but it was Rutter’s style of teaching players that really got her passionate about the game.

The many Basketball New Zealand coaching camps she attended at school only made the passion stronger.

"It was exciting having reputable coaches from New Zealand and the United States take those camps," she says.

Time has allowed Hunter to adopt and adapt a philosophy of her own.

"I like to empower players, build their confidence and encourage them to take ownership for learning."

She is also keen on enhancing a player’s skill and providing an environment that provides players with rewarding experiences.

That, says Counties Manukau Basketball’s coach and referee development officer Colin Driscoll, is what sets Hunter apart.

"Her players adore her. The rest of us coaches put players up in hotels or motels when we’re running coaching camps. Tania puts her entire squad up at her place. That’s who Tania is and that why her players love her. There is a humility about her and it rubs off on her players."

Driscoll says Hunter has lots of knowledge and a deep understanding of the game and it’s her ability to communicate with players that sets her apart.

Hunter’s four children, Leilana, 28, Jordan, 19, and twins Hamuera and Ihaka, 16, have all benefited from having a coach as a mother.

Leilana won a national championship when Counties Manukau won the under-20 title and the twins, who are at Rotorua Boys High School, are making good progress through the age groups ranks. The three will be hard-pressed to match sister Jordan, an Emerging Tall Fern, rated one of the country’s most promising players. Jordan is at Massey University in Palmerston North studying zoology.

Hunter isn’t looking too far into the future when it comes to coaching. She says her goal is to prove herself in every position the New Zealand Basketball Association appoints her to.

- © Fairfax NZ News