NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Sport

Opinion: The paradoxical case of a female coach in the Hawks' locker room

By Anendra Singh
Hawkes Bay Today·
10 May, 2017 04:50 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Kirstin Daly-Taylor is no shrinking violet but did she need to be more ego busting as a coach in cutting the Hawks down to size rather than coaxing them. PHOTO/Paul Taylor

Kirstin Daly-Taylor is no shrinking violet but did she need to be more ego busting as a coach in cutting the Hawks down to size rather than coaxing them. PHOTO/Paul Taylor

Opinion
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Few probably would have noticed it at the Pettigrew-Green Arena, Taradale, during the Hawks v Nelson Giants game in Napier last Saturday night.

I mean you don't unless they are your doting children playing basketball in bibs to entertain the National Basketball League (NBL) crowd at halftime.

Something unusual had transpired - but then some may argue it's not that unconventional at all.

A little alpha pocket rocket made a fast break but his attempt rimmed out. He regathered, swivelled and had two options as the opposition players ambushed him - relay the ball to a female teammate standing at arm's length from him to have another go at the hoop or make an oblique pass to one of his own gender in the carpark.

Who do you think the pocket rocket passed to?

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The answer, my friends, is as stark as when you remain seated in a row at PG Arena when everyone else stands up at the final buzzer to bestow an ovation on the Taylor Corporation-sponsored home side who had eked out their third victory in the NBL - to the boy.

Was the child guilty of sexism?

After all it was a no-brainer to chuck the ball sideways to the girl to try to drop it in again.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Perhaps the boy knew better. Maybe she wasn't the best shooter in the team so, in a chivalrous gesture, he thought why put her under duress.

But maybe, just maybe, he is the product of a species going back to the pre-Stone Age era who are brought up to be hunters and collectors so they adhere to gender stereotypical behaviour to shoulder the burden of responsibility in eking out a win.

That's what makes child psychology so fascinating, something shrink Nigel Latta has wickedly turned into an art form, using different mediums, to enlighten the great unwashed.

But my fixation is with adult behaviour, that is, what has changed in the psyche of the Hawks from the time Kirstin Daly-Taylor abruptly quit to when Ben Hill assumed the mantle of Hawks caretaker coach.

Discover more

Basketball

NBL Live: Southland Sharks v Bay Hawks

11 May 06:30 AM

Daly-Taylor's silence is deafening but, as Hill correctly points out, she'll need some time to exorcise her demons and it's entirely her prerogative to talk.

It's intriguing that, in Hill's words, he has had to tweak very little for the Hawks to register two victories on the trot because it doesn't stack up with the rash of losses under Daly-Taylor.

An Olympian, who had accomplished to an enviable level as a player but still an apprentice coach, she was under no circumstances a shrinking violet. Her schoolteacher demeanour means she's expressive and authoritative in a role where one is often waltzing with the devil.

After all, it's Daly-Taylor who has handpicked the team who are now winning although that purple patch may come to an end against the Southland Sharks in Invercargill tonight.

For that matter, Hill doesn't take any prisoners either. The former Tall Black has made it unequivocally clear he has no favourites. Don't perform, shuffle up the bench, sunshine.

That brings the players under scrutiny in what appears to be a case of a female coach and, paradoxically, not.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It goes without saying the Hawks were in awe of her passion and, in keeping with protocol, accorded her the respect due to any coach, female or male.

However, some of them didn't feel comfortable enough to bare their souls in the locker room when called to task, as they would say with each other or with a male coach, almost in the fashion females and males prefer consulting GPs of a similar gender.

American imports, including Lamar Roberson and dating back to last season, raised the issue of having a female coach, without any prompting during interviews, but, despite their differences in some aspects of coaching philosophy, were adamant about building a rapport for the sake of the collective for fear of sporting the chauvinistic tag.

For many Kiwi and Pacific Island players in the NBL it's not that much of an issue because they have had age-group female mentors, such as Deslea Wrathall, up to a national level.

Was Daly-Taylor too much of a schoolteacher with a gender who are accustomed to opening doors and putting down toilet seats for the fairer sex but not so adept at asking for directions when stranded as motorists?

Blokes, who simply want a monopoly on the TV remote control in a man cave, have an affinity with the animal kingdom where a peacock culture is ingrained from day dot. Team chemistry makes way for egos because the desire to win overrides the need to cohabit harmoniously - something most females do not champion.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Studies show it's no secret that females supersede males on the coach-ability scale. The gender divide is yawning when it comes to males' inability to handle criticism.

When coaches vent their spleen females generally take it personally whereas males tend to deflect it as verbal assault directed at other underperforming teammates.

Did Daly-Taylor fail to challenge Hawks individually to the extent where they felt it was a primordial challenge to their manhood so they had to prove her wrong?

You see, when it comes to the alpha male it's not as clearcut as encouraging more girls to take up science and technology in high schools.

Coaching the Hawks is not the same as mentoring the Napier Boys' High School flagship team.

Whether she'll coach another men's team remains to be seen but the lesson plan needs tweaking.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Sport

Premium
Opinion

Opinion: The bold All Blacks selections Razor must embrace

01 Jul 04:07 AM
Sport|leagueUpdated

Juggling jobs and family: Warriors women tackle challenges of top sport

01 Jul 03:33 AM
Sport

Locker Room: Teen hockey star ditches Australia for NZ, makes Black Sticks debut

01 Jul 03:00 AM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Sport

Premium
Opinion: The bold All Blacks selections Razor must embrace

Opinion: The bold All Blacks selections Razor must embrace

01 Jul 04:07 AM

Billy Proctor is expected to start at centre in Dunedin.

Juggling jobs and family: Warriors women tackle challenges of top sport

Juggling jobs and family: Warriors women tackle challenges of top sport

01 Jul 03:33 AM
Locker Room: Teen hockey star ditches Australia for NZ, makes Black Sticks debut

Locker Room: Teen hockey star ditches Australia for NZ, makes Black Sticks debut

01 Jul 03:00 AM
'The Lord's team': Savea hopes Moana Pasifika survives financial struggles

'The Lord's team': Savea hopes Moana Pasifika survives financial struggles

01 Jul 02:45 AM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP