Softball: Tricker bows out with grace

By JULIE ASH

You would be hard pressed to find a nicer guy than outgoing Black Sox coach Don Tricker, especially one who has been as successful as he has in the international sports arena.

Tricker announced he was standing down as Black Sox coach this week after guiding them to two consecutive world championship titles.

However, the Wellingtonian is not walking away from the diamond completely.

"I will never be finished with softball," Tricker said. "It has basically shaped me as a person. I have been coaching kids' teams for a number of years and I will continue to do that and I will continue to provide assistance for the Black Sox."

Tricker's success with the Black Sox has made him one of New Zealand's most successful international coaches. However, you will never hear the humble Tricker crowing on about such accolades.

"The Black Sox are a unique group of New Zealanders," he said.

"I am privileged to have been a part of them."

With the lower North Island being the heart of the New Zealand game, growing up in Porirua almost predetermined Tricker's future.

His grandfather Buck Laws was one of the country's leading softball umpires and played a key role in introducing the game to the Wellington region.

Tricker played for Porirua until he was 22, then moved to Poneke Kilbirnie. He landed a spot in the national side in 1986 where he played on and off until 1991.

After starting his coaching career with Poneke Kilbirnie in 1996 Tricker landed the Black Sox job in 1998. It was an appointment which took some of his old team mates, who were still playing for New Zealand, a little getting use to.

"I can still remember that team meeting in 1998 when I first got the job," Tricker recalled. "I looked across at Dean Rice and they all started laughing."

According to Rice, Tricker's analytical mind is one of his greatest traits. "He can't help himself," Rice has said.

"He has always been that type of guy. I'd imagine it would be hard for him to just sit down and watch a game of any kind without analysing everything."

Under Tricker's guidance the Black Sox charged through the last two world championships losing just one match in each series.

Assistant coach Eddie Kohlhase said Tricker always placed a lot of emphasis on the basics.

His philosophy is that if you can do the basics in your sleep when it comes to the crunch in a game you can do it without even thinking.

"His planning was precise but he kept things very, very simple."

Tricker was also big on team culture, insisting his team stayed at the Burnham Army Camp leading up to this year's world championships in Christchurch.

"You go into hotels and the guys have their own rooms and TVs - there is no need to socialise," Tricker has said. "Stay in a dorm with three or four to a room, with one TV maybe in the whole place - that is what builds teams."

He has little time for those with egos. "One of the tests I have is the test of character which is what I call the RSA test. You want guys in the team that can walk into any RSA in the country and strike up a conversation with anyone. Not just stand there and talk about themselves but be genuinely interested in what the other person has to say.

"That is the sort of group we have got here. It is not about them. They are very, very humble guys who just want to get out there and do the very best they can for themselves, their friends and their families."

Tricker made the decision to retire so he could spend more time with his family and apply greater focus on his job with the Government's sport and recreation funding agency Sparc where he works as a coaching adviser.

His next Sparc project takes him to Athens where he will work with New Zealand's Olympic coaches.

"I think for us coaching has to be New Zealand's point of difference ... because the reality is that we can't compete internationally in terms of the numbers playing sports and the level of investment that goes into sport overseas - therefore if we want to compete we have to have the best coaches."

And for the last six years the Black Sox have definitely had one of those.

DON TRICKER

Lives: Porirua.

Status: Married to Carey with children Mitchell, Bronte and Georgia.

Occupation: Sparc coaching adviser.

Career highlights:

1986-1991: Member of the New Zealand softball team. Was part of the team that finished second in the 1998 world championships.

1998-2004: Black Sox coach. Guided them to success in the 2000 and 2004 world championships.