‘Powerhouse’ future in the offing

WILLING TO HELP: Des Kerekere has played, coached or refereed volleyball almost his whole life and is keen to help the sport grow in Gisborne.Picture by Liam Clayton

ONE of the top volleyball referees and coaches in the country says he has no doubt Gisborne could become a national powerhouse in the sport.

Des Kerekere has played, coached or refereed volleyball almost his whole life. He has more than three decades' experience refereeing volleyball at an international level, and he recently ran a training camp in Gisborne.

“All the talent is here, but there's no depth in the coaches,” he said.

“I have no doubt that if you can get the coaches, there's enough talent here to knock everyone out.

“The smaller places have the better athletes . . . you see it in these nine- to 11-year-olds and the way they use their bodies.”

Gisborne has a raft of athletic and skilful players, but the lack of a regular competition has made it hard to foster the talent, he says.

This year Kerekere is moving to Hawke's Bay with his wife Mary, who is also an internationally accredited volleyball referee.

Des Kerekere says they are already looking to join the Hawke's Bay-Poverty Bay volleyball board with the intention of coming to coach in Gisborne as often as they can.

For health reasons that make frequent travel challenging, Kerekere doesn't know how often that will be.

Gisborne Boys' High School teacher in charge of volleyball, Simon Murphy, said the offer of coaching from Kerekere was invaluable to the growth of the sport in Gisborne.

He said Kerekere was generous with his time, and ran clinics to promote the game while accepting only a koha for travel expenses.

“He can provide player development to the highest levels, coach development and referee development.

“It's crazy once you start scratching the surface. There's so much depth to his knowledge.”

Murphy agreed that Gisborne had the potential to be a national leader in the game, but a shortage of coaches and the lack of a suitable venue made it hard to grow the sport.

He said Volleyball New Zealand saw Gisborne as a hub for beach volleyball, with the likes of New Zealand representative Julia Tilley leading the charge, but this district also had the potential to be a leader in the more traditional six-a-side game.

High-performance GBHS teams had to travel to Hawke's Bay to get the court time needed for continued improvement, Murphy said.

“I've been at Boys' High for 20 years, and I feel like we perform incredibly well and punch well above our weight.”

This year local high schools are starting a volleyball league, and Murphy says that's just the start of growing the sport locally.

He hopes that with help from Kerekere, more new entrants at Boys' High will arrive with baseline skills high enough to raise the level of the upcoming local league. This could provide the high-level games that the best players in the region needed if they were to improve.

Kerekere was born in Gisborne but moved to Dunedin early in life. He is the brother of local Green Party list MP Elizabeth Kerekere. He says they share a desire to give back — an attitude their parents ingrained in them. Their parents' nature, influence and energy gave their children the confidence to be themselves.

“If you can help out, help out . . . you don't lose anything by giving.”