Reflection: Foundation Sharks coach talks the early days

“I know in my lifetime I’ll probably never get another opportunity to help set up and be part of a team starting off in a competition."

The Southland Sharks inaugural coach Richard Dickel.

Richard Dickel prompted a chuckle in 2006 while being interviewed for a Development and Operations Manager job at the Southland Basketball Association.

Dickel suggested the long-term goal should be to have a team playing in the New Zealand National Basketball League.

“I said the quest has to be to have a men’s and women’s team in the national league, that’s what it has to be for Southland kids to aspire to.

“To be honest it was met with a bit of laughter, they just thought it was a pie-in-the shy idea,” Dickel says.