NZL - McGoldrick checks in

AUCKLAND (National Federation) - The rookie has spent his first official week as Basketball New Zealand chief executive paddling into the shallows.

That's because a month before he was due to take office, Bryn McGoldrick was thrown in the deep end ... whisked off to Japan for the FIBA World Championship, a week of schmoozing with the sport's most influential brass and learning the nuances of the game from some of its biggest fans and harshest critics.

Now his feet have touched the bottom, McGoldrick (50) has a fairly good idea of the task ahead of him to maintain New Zealand's burgeoning international basketball reputation and consolidate the code's toehold on the local market.

"Japan was an incredible opportunity for me, not just as a basketball experience, but as much for the contacts I had and the feeling I got for the international federation," he enthuses. "It highlighted the sense of family that is basketball and it seems like a sport that attracts good people."

While he is a newcomer to that family, as a former CEO of Christchurch's Jade Stadium, McGoldrick has seen plenty of sport, enough to know excellence when he sees it.

"I'm a sports person ... I'm not totally green," he insists. "It's not as if I've never seen a basketball game played or can't recognize skill and a good team environment.

"But I'm looking forward to developing the same passion for basketball as the people I have met so far."

While the nation may have been dismayed by the Tall Blacks' top-16 performance at the world championships, it was enough to actually improve their international ranking and keep the New Zealand flag flying at FIBA headquarters in Geneva. The prospect of the Tall Ferns contesting the Beijing Olympics on the back of Australia's world women's title seems likely to maintain that status for at least a while longer.

"I think we're perceived as a programme that boxes above its weight internationally," says McGoldrick. "We've got there on a good diet of Kiwi ingenuity, whether it be the way our teams are put together and coached, or from an administrative point of view.

"Now we are in that situation, we have to make sure any gains we have made since 2002 are cemented, consolidated and built on. Everyone is worried that once this current crop of Tall Blacks goes, there will be a hole ... we have to make sure that doesn't happen."

The challenges are just as daunting domestically and probably even more vital.

"Locally, I'd don't think we are boxing above our weight," says the boss. "In fact, we may be boxing below our weight.

"The perception among mainstream sports is that we are much less developed than I observe we are. That may be a reflection of us not being that unified as a body ... our parts are probably stronger than our whole.

"A big part of my job is bringing the strength of the group together."

Balancing those two perceptions may prove difficult, especially when it comes to allocating available funding. Not surprisingly, finding more dollars looms as McGoldrick's biggest challenge, along with establishing priorities in spending them.

Still, as a former South Island franchise holder for Budget rental cars, he has a background in satisfying customers.

"In some strategic areas, we have ducked and dived a bit. Some of our constituencies are not disillusioned, but dissatisfied with what we have provided ... that's a bit of a two-way street, but I'm very keen to answer those concerns.

"There are also question marks over our domestic competitions like the NBL and WNBL ... we didn't even have a WNBL this year. Along with the Tall Blacks and Tall Ferns, they are our shop window and I'm not sure we are projecting ourselves as well as we could.

"We also need to recruit and retain good officials. If we don't balance good athletes with good officials, we'll end up with a lopsided game."

But McGoldrick thinks he has a valuable raw material to work with ...

"The passion of the people in basketball, without any doubt," he says. "I can see it in the office here and I see it in the wider community.

"I think our international results have put us in a favourable position, although obviously not with Sparc. Internationally, our Kiwi mentality - our resilience, the ability to run on the sniff of an oily rag, never quitting - has been a real strength."

Wellington's climate has offered McGoldrick a chilly reception for his first week on the job, but it hasn't dampened his enthusiasm for the task ahead.

"My gut reaction is that I made the right decision taking this job," he insists. "I'm in charge of an organization that has incredible potential

"I'm not a basketball expert, but I think my skill set will suit the time."
 
Grant Chapman