Masterton couple may star at Games

A Masterton husband-and-wife combination could have starring roles at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne next March, in the same sport but in very different roles.
Andy Thackray has a strong chance of being amongst the referees appointed to officiate at basketball matches while Jane Thackray has an equally strong chance of being a member of the English women's squad competing there.
The Thackrays arrived in Masterton from England almost two years ago with Andy taking up a position as maths teacher at Wairarapa College and Jane as a field development officer for Basketball New Zealand.
Refereeing at international level would be nothing new for Andy Thackray who attained the relevant qualifications back in 1992.
He has already controlled "tests" between such teams as the Tall Blacks and Australia and Korea and Poland and is about to head for China where he will be the sole New Zealand referee at matches featuring the Tall Blacks, Lithuania, China and another nation yet to be confirmed.
Then it will be back home to control world championship qualifying games between the New Zealand and Australian women's teams in Palmerston North, Napier and Te Awamutu.
Thackray, who regularly referees national league matches on the domestic front, is rated in the top three of New Zealand basketball referees along with Dallas Pickering of Auckland and Gavin Whiu of Hamilton and he admits making the Commonwealth Games panel next year is an ambition, along with controlling matches in the Australian national league, the competition in which the New Zealand Breakers are amongst the participants.
"It's like anything, you just have to keep doing your best and hope that you pick up the rewards as they come along," he said.
Jane Thackray is currently recovering from a knee injury suffered in the opening minutes when playing for Wellington in the very first of the national women's league games this season back in April.
She is due to leave about the middle of this month to join up with the England team for a training camp in Bulgaria which will be followed by a tournament there and then another tourney in Portugal and games against Sweden and Poland.
Thackray has not yet booked her flight to Bulgaria in case her injury has not progressed enough to make the trip worthwhile but she is optimistic about her prospects.
"Obviously I haven't been able to do a lot of fitness work but most of the pain has gone so hopefully I'll be ok," she said.
Thackray, who plays in defence, has been a member of the English squad for much of the past decade and has skippered the side for the last five years .
She admits that at 37 years of age retirement if very much on her mind and she sees the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne as providing an ideal opportunity to bow out on a high note.
"Competing there would be the ultimate for me??..I just trust the body holds up along enough for it to happen," she said.
Not surprisingly the two Thackrays are now at the forefront of efforts to lift the profile of basketball in the Wairarapa area and they are both pleased at the progress being made.
"You can't expect things to happen overnight in areas like Wairarapa where the sport is organised on a voluntary basis but it is going forward, and that's a real plus," Jane Thackray said.