Local Coaches To Assist
Tagged in: Coaching, Tall Ferns
Promising Canterbury coaches Kennedy Hamilton-Kereama and Craig Hickford have been named assistant coaches of the Christchurch Sirens for their Australian WNBL debut season.
Hamilton-Kereama (23) has been identified by Basketball New Zdealand through its High Performance programme. This year, he guided Canterbury to the national U21 women title and helped the province to the NZ U17 girls final.
He has been involved with the Christchurch Girls High School programme over the past seven years, and works part time at Cowles Stadium and Aranui High School.
ìI am looking forward to expanding my coaching knowledge and learning as much as I can in this elite league,î said Hamilton-Kereama.
Hamilton-Kereama has played an active part of the Sirens preseason build-up and will work under head coach Leigh Gooding, who is also the Tall Ferns assistant coach.
Hickford (34) has been a successful club coach in recent seasons leading the University Premier Womenís side to back-to-back titles in the Canterbury competition.
The University side was also the top-performing Canterbury entry into the southern conference of the WBL in May, finishing with a 6-2 record and losing only to the Otago Goldrush representative side.
In addition, he coached the Canterbury Wildcats in the womenís National Basketball Invitational competition this year.
As a player, Hickford is a former National Basketball League representative for Taranaki, Palmerston North and Canterbury.
The Sirens’ begin their inaugural season on Friday, when they host Townsville Fire at the Westpac Centre.
