Basketball: McKay takes 2 coaches with him

Last year Andy McKay was travelling to Melbourne with New Zealand's future basketball stars to take on Aussie's top juniors. Today he's heading back again - with two of the Tauranga's most promising coaches in tow.
McKay, Bay of Plenty's basketball CoachForce development officer, went with the Breakers age-group teams to Melbourne on a Breakers coaching scholarship, leading the under-13 girls' team to the Melbourne Tigers club tournament title.
He's on the plane again today, this time as a coaching mentor, but will have Tauranga's Judy Castles and Ben Webber for company after the pair received coaching scholarships totalling $2500 from the Bay Trust.
Castles will be assistant coach of the Breakers under-14 girls' team while Webber will link with McKay's brother Dave, the NZ Breakers' coaching and development manager, with the under-14 boys' team.
The Breakers kicked in $1000 for the Tauranga trio, with Castles and Webber championed by Bay Basketball as worthy Bay Trust beneficiaries.
Andy McKay said yesterday the week-long trip was more than just helping the junior teams to achieve in Melbourne.
"I came home last year having learned so much and being reinvigorated at the midway point of the season. The Breakers as an organisation are champions and everything they do reflects that. When I floated the idea with my bro of maybe getting a couple of coaches from Tauranga on the trip with me he jumped at the idea."
The Breakers will send five teams to Melbourne - under-12, 13, 14 and 15 boys and under-14 girls - where they'll play warmup games over the next two days before the tournament-proper starts on Friday, finishing on Sunday. Each grade would feature 20 club teams from in and around Melbourne, with the tournament played at Dandenong Stadium which has 16 dedicated basketball courts.
McKay said the trip was offered to coaches throughout the region but only Tauranga showed any real interest. "Judy and Ben were picked as promising rep coaches and part of the brief is that they'll come back and contribute what they've learned to our rep system."
Dave McKay said they'd targeted two titles this week in the club's third development trip across the ditch. "If Ben and Judy invest themselves in the process, which I'm sure they will, then it'll be a hugely rewarding time for them, although I plan to chuck them in with other teams at stages of the tournament so they get a taste for different styles of coaching."