TBs Nominated
Tagged in: Tall Blacks
The 2009 Tall Blacks campaign has received four nominations for the Westpac Halberg Awards.
Sixty-six nominations were received across the four award categories - Sportsman of the Year, Sportswoman of the Year, Team of the Year and Coach of the Year - while another 16 were submitted for the Emerging Talent Awards, carrying a $15,000 scholarship.
The national men’s basketball team were nominated as Team of the Year for their record 100-78 win over the Australian Boomers in Wellington and series victory at this year’s FIBA Oceania Championship for Men. The achievement was particularly noteworthy for the rebuilding nature of a team that featured five international rookies.
Nenad Vucinic, whose Kalev/Cramo team took out the Estonian national league title this year, was nominated for Coach of the Year. He was also acclaimed for his work as mentor to assistant coach Chris Tupu and video technician Dillon Boucher, recent Tall Blacks now turning their attentions to sideline roles.
Captain Kirk Penney was nominated, not only for his on and offcourt leadership of the national side, but also his MVP play for the Burger King NZ Breakers in the Australian NBL over 2008/09. He led the Tall Blacks in scoring for all but one of their games this year - the sole exception was that Oceania triumph, where he was just three rebounds short of a rare triple-double.
Junior Tall Blacks star Rob Loe, who also debuted for the senior side this year, has missed out on the finals of the Emerging Talent Award. The four finalists have already been named - they are world junior cycling champion Sam Webster, NZ U20 rugby captain Aaron Cruden, world youth yachting champion Sam Meech and world U23 double sculls rowing champion Robbie Manson.
The 2009 Westpac Halberg Awards will be presented on Thursday, February 4, 2010, televised live on SKY television. Basketball will be represented by the 2002 Tall Blacks, who, as 2003 Halberg Award winners, are eligible for the overall decade award.
