Basketball: Training mishap opens door for Tait

Lindsay Tait, MVP in the domestic league, has joined the Breakers and is now focusing on his Tall Blacks mission. Picture / Paul Estcourt

Lindsay Tait grew up in a basketballing family, has played and been round the game all his life and so feels comfortable and relaxed about getting his big chance in the Tall Blacks.

Tait, 23, has been marked out as a star since his Avondale College team won the schools championship, and over recent seasons he has worked his way to the top of the domestic league, winning the 2005 Most Valuable Player award as his team, the Auckland Stars, won the title.

He also secured a place on the Breakers' roster. It was in training for them last week that he collided with Paul Henare, putting the more senior point guard out of the four-team tournament in Australia next week and possibly out of the Oceania Series that follows it.

And so a big challenge arises as Tait steps up to fill Henare's boots. Mark Dickel will be the other point guard but he joins the team in Perth on Monday and so Tait will probably get to start first.

"I'm looking forward to the chance. I've been around for a while now [Tall Black debut 2003] and I'm familiar with Tab [coach Baldwin] and the guys and the systems. Now I just have to keep working hard and proving myself to the coaches."

He wasn't feeling any pressure and usually didn't ahead of big games, he said.

"The tough part is the camp. I do the work so I know that when I go on the court I'm prepared and I just have to play.

"I like to enjoy myself - it's only a game. If you worry too much about it it gets you down so I like to keep a good attitude. It feels more comfortable."

He enjoyed playing with world-class colleagues such as Pero Cameron and Phill Jones.

"It's the best education you can get. I really enjoy it because I'm constantly learning."

And the coaches were frequently on to the younger squad members with advice, Tait said, but "not in a negative way".

"Tab and Nenad [assistant coach Vucinic], nothing gets past them. It's helped me a lot with my execution."

After this tournament and the Oceania Series comes the Commonwealth Games in March, then the world championships in Japan. Tait aims to be there for both.

"That's the plan," he said this week. "I know I have to work hard. Hey, I'm getting paid to play the sport I love. I can't complain."