"I pretty much didn't show when mum was pregnant with me so she had to wait a very long time in her pregnancy. The only way she knew was when I kicked and there was this foot shooting out.
"She was quite proud she was able to maintain her abs and wear miniskirts quite quickly after having me," says the 34-year-old newly appointed Taylor Corporation Hawks coach.
As far as Coronel is aware, his parents aren't disappointed he didn't gravitate towards the beautiful game although he reveals his mother was a social competitive basketballer well before he was born.
"No doubt she'll be at the Pettigrew-Green Arena but she's been up that way on trips a couple of times while I've been out scouting."
His first recollection of basketball was going to a pre-season tournament in Hawera with his mother when he was 3.
It wasn't until he was 7 that his Vogeltown Primary School teacher, John Carr, who went on to become a Tall Black in 1994, started honing his skills.
Three of those standard one pupils, including Coronel, from that class of 1990 went on to carve a niche in the National Basketball League. The others were:
■ Ben Jefferies: A point guard who played for Taranaki Mountainairs, Nelson Giants and the Canterbury Rams.
■ Daneka Wipiiti: A dual international who switched to the Tall Ferns after winning a netball gold medal as a Silver Fern in the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games.
"Everyone loved basketball because of Mr Carr and, I guess, I was part of that."
His last year of competitive basketball was as a high school junior amid a height of awareness that coaching was rapidly becoming his focal point.
"I also recognised a future in coaching than in playing," he says, picking up a clipboard as a year 12 pupil at New Plymouth Boys' High in 1999.
Coronel fondly recalls the era in New Plymouth when he was among scores of fans who queued for hours to watch the Mountainairs play.
