Basketball men sharp

Press, 10 March 1987, Page 32

Basketball men sharp

Canterbury men’s basketball had one of its finest hours when it won the Countrywide league championship last season, and from early indications it must be favoured to retain its title. Under the astute guiding hand of its coach, Gary Pettis, Canterbury is already showing impressive pre-season form. But there is a long way to go yet if Canterbury is to make it to the finals in Wellington in August — and every member of the 13-man squad knows it. As Mr Pettis said this week the players will have to be constantly reminded of their obligations if Canterbury is to repeat last season’s success. With Mr Pettis and the two Americans, Clyde Huntley and Angelo Hill, as motivators , Canterbury, like last year, is likely to peak in the last

month of competition. Mr Pettis' tactics for the new season are unlikely to change much, although he is aware that Canterbury’s biggest defect was in offence rebounding. He has made that area one of his biggest challenges. Fitness has always been the keynote for Mr Pettis in any sport he has been involved in, and right from the start of training in early January he launched his squad into a programme probably not equalled by any other league side in New Zealand. Already the team looks sharp, but to Mr Pettis’ mind there is still a considerable amount of work to be done before the league starts early next month. If enthusiasm and hard work make for success then Canterbury has made it already.

The squad is: Clyde Huntley, Angelo Hill, Bert Knops: John Hill, John Rademakers, lan Webb, Bill Duggan, Lance Dixon, Ralph Lattimore, Chris Smpson and Diederik van Heyningen, Graham Timms and Terry Brunel. In comparison, the women’s league team looks to have a season of uncertainty facing it. Noone really knows whether there will be a national second division this year and Canterbury’s coach, Bill Whelan, was looking forward to 1987 as he considered he had an excellent squad. The reason for all the uncertainty is that there are only three teams (Nelson has pulled out because of financial reasons) in the southern section of the zone and the same applies in the

northern zone. The cost of combining the six teams together into one competition would be prohibitive and now Canterbury looks as if it will have to settle for a tournament, with the winner making first division status in 1988. “I feel sorry for the girls,” said Mr Whelan this week. “Pre-season interest was tremendous and the 12 players I chose last week could have certainly given Canterbury a real chance of promotion.” If a tournament is held for the second division, then games against other South Island provinces will have to be arranged to give Canterbury some chance of working up a combination. Failure to do this could cost Canterbury its biggest goal of the season, promotion.