Five coaches from three Oceania National Federations descended on Albury, Australia from 16^th – 18^th January, for a Tournament Coaches Course conducted by FIBA Development Manager – Oceania, Annie La Fleur and Basketball Australia’s Head of High Performance – Coach Development Peter Lonergan. The coaches, from Papua New Guinea(PNG), Fiji and Samoa were put through an engaging week to help better prepare their teams and bridge the gap between Oceania National Federations and Australia/New Zealand during junior Oceania championships.

“FIBA see that preparation and planning is an area that our NF’s (National Federations) need assistance with so it’s great to see the five coaches here representing their NF’s in the hopes to make a difference. It was great to see them engaged and vocal during group discussions. Australia and New Zealand start preparing well in advance of competitions so we are hoping from these workshops our NF’s can see the value in adjusting what has been done in the past giving their teams the best opportunity to be successful.” La Fleur commented.

Conducted during the Australian Country Cup, the coaches had the opportunity to not only develop their own preparation plans, but also understand the importance of continuing to develop that plan during an event through scouting and reviewing game tape.  By holding the workshop during an event, the coaches were able to put the theory into practice whilst learning from one of the best development coaches in the region. Lonergan commented “These workshops are very valuable for NF’s where distance and resources are lacking. This is a great opportunity for each of the NF’s to share ideas with each other which may value their countries development.”

The coaches were appointed by their National Federations following the Oceania High Performance workshop that took place in October 2017 and a key emphasis on both workshops has been on the importance of preparation and planning in order for the teams to succeed on court.  PNG boy’s head coach Patrick Ani was an active participant throughout both workshops, and, whilst understanding of the size of the task at hand, is looking forward to preparing and leading his team to success on home soil in December. “ The workshops opened my eyes to what needs to be done and I’m looking forward to going back to PNG to get things started……. It’s at home and we have a lot of pride, so we want to do well for our country men and women.”

When pressed on what he hoped to see the coaches achieve in PNG in December  Lonergan added “to see that the coaches have focused on development and that they are showing good leadership. One of the focuses for this workshop was for the coaches to understand that planning and preparation is a big part of coaching so I’d like to be able to see that they have prepared”

The coaches understand that without the support of their national federations, no amount of planning will be successful with Fiji women’s head coach Seini Dobui commenting “I’m excited about the next 11 months. Peter Lonergan did a great job helping me come up with my plan which I will share with my national federation when I get home so we are all on the same page. He provided me with some resources that I can use to help develop me as a coach and ultimately my players so we are ready to play.”

FIBA will continue to support these coaches on their journey and look forward to seeing the results not only in December, but for all future Oceania events.