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- Shivendra Narayan, Watties Student Volunteer Coach of the Year.
2007 Watties Volunteer Coach of the Year Shivendra Narayan, or Shiv, as he likes to be called, is a 20 year old with a big future in basketball.
The Watties Volunteer Coach of the Year Awards are sponsored jointly by SPARC and Wattie’s each year and say “Thanks coach” to the country’s deserving volunteer coaches. The four winners are selected from more than 2,900 nominations made by the teams and players they coach.
“I had no idea I was receiving the award,” says Shiv. “I was really surprised and humbled. Having the opportunity to meet people who have been coaching for up to 60 years was really inspirational. And, being a basketball coach, my highlight of the evening was talking to Mike McHugh, coach of the New Zealand Tall Ferns.”
Shiv has been keen on basketball since he was young, watching it on TV and attending local NBL games. “In 2002, I really got hooked when the Tall Blacks did well at the World Championships,” says Shiv.
Funnily enough, it was soccer, not basketball, that started Shiv on the path to becoming a basketball coach. Thanks to some soccer-inflicted knee and ankle injuries, he found that he wasn’t as quick on the court as he used to be. “Basketball isn’t just about being tall,” says Shiv. “You have to be agile and quick on your feet. With the injuries I had, I just didn’t have the speed and agility anymore.
“I suppose I’ve always been interested in coaching,” says Shiv. “I used to watch coaches on the sideline yelling at the players and I thought, I’d like to be doing the yelling rather than being yelled at.” And with Tab Baldwin taking the Tall Blacks to new heights, Shiv was definitely inspired to find out more about how he could get involved.
“From a bystander’s point of view, I could see that coaching basketball was quite different from many other sports,” says Shiv. “The coach has a very direct effect on how the game is played, giving advice throughout from the sidelines. So, I thought it would be a bit like being a quasi-player in a sense, because you are so involved in the game.”
Shiv started coaching in 2005 with his college under-16 boys’ team and soon moved up to coaching the senior team. “They’re the top team in the school,” says Shiv. “A bit like the rugby first fifteen.”
