Insight Into Leadership from New Coach Vickerman

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Wednesday 5 June 201

Insight Into Leadership from New Coach Vickerman

SKYCITY Breakers new head coach Dean Vickerman will reveal how he intends to lead the already successful basketball team into its next phase, during a special dinner for 300 guests in Gisborne this month.

Breaking out the Big Guns: Dinner with the SKYCITY Breakers, on Monday 17 June will be a rare and exclusive opportunity for anyone interested in leadership to listen to the head coach of arguably New Zealand’s most successful sporting franchise.

Vickerman will be here as part of June’s SKYCITY Breakers ‘Are You Ready To Be A Champion?’ Turanga Health Tour 2013. Others visiting include assistant coach Judd Flavell, and players CJ Bruton, and Alex Pledger. Tall Black Hayden Allen will also be coming

Vickerman has been head coach of the franchise for one month so as the team looks to maintain momentum, his leadership principles, coaching style, and player management will be of interest to local guests as well as a national audience

This year the SKYCITY Breakers become just the second team in the Australian National Basketball League history to win three consecutive championships. At the helm for the historic threepeat was coach Andrej Lemanis. Like Steve Hansen was to Graham Henry in Rugby Union, Vickerman has been waiting in the wings for the top job, and now has the formidable task of carrying an already successful team forward into a new phase.

Vickerman has coached the Wellington Saints and Waikato Pistons in the National Basketball League, and been an assistant coach for the Tall Blacks, the Singapore Slingers, and the Melbourne Tigers.

Vickerman says he will address the Gisborne dinner audience about “player empowerment”. It’s a powerful tool when managing a team like the SKYCITY Breakers. It’s about the 12th man on the bench having the same rights as the guy who is making the most money to talk about our programme and make suggestions, he says. “We empower our players to help make decisions and if we are unsure about something we throw it to the team and the guys to evaluate and make a choice.”

Vickerman says he will also be addressing dinner guests about “accountability on and off the court”. “This has ensured our team has a great reputation off the court as well as on it, enhancing its image as a family-oriented club.

Turanga Health has brought Vickerman and the others to Gisborne as positive role models to kids especially when it comes to making the right choices around alcohol and drug use. Turanga Health’s Dwayne Tamatea says the SKYCITY Breakers will share their messages around the importance of family, balance, respect, sacrifice, basketball and life, via a series of school visits, coaching sessions and public appearances.

Anyone wanting tickets to Breaking out the Big Guns: Dinner with the SKYCITY Breakers also featuring a live-from-the-couch interview with the players can get them from Turanga Health, (06) 869 0457, 145 Derby St.

ENDS

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