Basketball New Zealand

Kennedy Hamilton-Kereama (Photosport)

Kennedy Hamilton-Kereama brings a refreshing new look to the NZ Tall Ferns head coaching role.

This week, Hamilton-Kereama steps into the vacuum left when predecessor Shawn Dennis departed for the Australian NBL’s Perth Wildcats franchise earlier this year.

His first and, for now, only assignment is a three-game tour of Japan over the next two weeks.

At 26, he is of an age that most aspiring basketball coaches are still lacing up their sneakers in pursuit of playing careers.

He is also the first Kiwi to coach the national women’s team since Carl Dickel guided the Ferns through the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

“It’s an exciting opportunity,” says Hamilton-Kereama.

“I would never discredit the work any of the previous Australian coaches have done with the Tall Ferns, but I think having a Kiwi in the job would also be exciting for New Zealand basketball community.”

Over the past decade, the Ferns have been under the guidance of American Tracy Carpenter (2001) and then a string of Australians – Carrie Graf (2003), Tom Maher (2004), Mike McHugh (2005-08) and Dennis (2009).

Hamilton-Kereama has been a true student of the game, cutting his teeth as assistant coach to another Aussie, Leigh Gooding, with the Christchurch Sirens in 2007/08, and then performing video duties under McHugh and Gooding at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Last year, he and his now-deputy Aik Ho both assisted Dennis.

Since the demise of the Sirens, Hamilton-Kereama has undertaken his professional development offshore with Albury Wodonga in the South East Australia Basketball League.

“Being an assistant coach is fantastic and you learn a lot, but at some point, you need to apply those lessons in your own way.

“Unfortunately, we don’t quite have those opportunities in New Zealand unless you find them in the [men’s] NBL.”

Given the Ferns’ short international programme this year, Hamilton-Kereama’s appointment is an interim one and the Basketball New Zealand board hopes to reconsider its options by the end of September.

If Australia manage to retain their world title in September, New Zealand will again be well placed to claim the Oceania qualifying berth for the 2012 London Olympics, as they have on the previous three occasions.

Regardless, they will likely get a chance to push their Olympic claims through a last-chance repechage format.

Japan will contest the world championships and should provide a useful measure of the talent available to the Tall Ferns moving forward. Their roster has undergone considerable change since their 2009 NZ tour, and they have already achieved promising results against Australia and Lithuania in recent weeks.

“They are a tough team to play against,” observes Hamilton-Kereama. “They play with a lot of passion and they are very fast in transition, which is not a style we’re accustomed to in New Zealand.

“They can also shoot the lights out.”

Ironically, the Ferns’ greatest advantage may be in height, a factor that is often their downfall against top international opponents.

“Kennedy’s experience within the Tall Ferns programme made him a logical acting head coach,” says Basketball New Zealand chief executive Tim Hamilton.

“We believe he will benefit from his experience in leading the team on the Japanese tour.”

North Harbour’s Helen Lacey has also been appointed manager for the upcoming campaign.