Don Tricker
Donald Francis Tricker ONZM is a former player and coach of the New Zealand national softball team (Black Sox) and senior advisor of high performance coaching at the New Zealand Academy of Sport.
Family background
[edit]Tricker's grandfather was one of the country's leading softball umpires and played a key role in introducing the game to the Wellington region.[1]
Sporting career
[edit]Player
[edit]Tricker played softball for Porirua until he was 22 then moved to Poneke Kilbirnie, claiming regional and national titles with both clubs,[1] and played for the Black Sox on and off between 1986 and 1991.[2]
Coach
[edit]Tricker began his softball coaching career at Poneke Kilbirnie in 1996, while he was still playing, and was named Black Sock coach two years later.[1] He coached the team to two world championship wins in 2000 and three consecutive world titles.[3] He retired as national coach in 2004, being replaced by Eddie Kohlhase.[4]
In 2002, after six years in the information technology sector, Tricker was appointed as senior advisor of high performance coaching at the New Zealand Academy of Sport, a unit of Sport and Recreation New Zealand.[5] Tricker and Auckland lawyer Mike Heron prepared a report into the All Blacks early World Cup exit.[6] In 2010 the New Zealand Rugby Union has appointed Tricker as the High Performance Manager.[7]
Honours and awards
[edit]Tricker was named coach of the year at the 2000 Halberg Awards, after leading the team to a world series victory in South Africa[5] In the 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to softball.[8]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Julie Ash (27 October 2001). "Softball: Seriously good coach shares the funny side". New Zealand Herald.
- ^ Julie Ash (16 July 2004). "Softball: Tricker picks his successor". New Zealand Herald.
- ^ "Our top ten sports stars". New Zealand Herald. 18 December 2004.
- ^ "Black Sox reappoint coach". New Zealand Herald. 1 December 2009.
- ^ a b "Softball: Tricker appointed to Academy of Sport". New Zealand Herald. 11 February 2002.
- ^ Mike Houlahan (18 April 2008). "We're sorry, NZRU chairman tells fans". New Zealand Herald.
- ^ "Softball man gets All Black job". Rugby Rugby. September 2010. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
- ^ "Queen's Birthday honours list 2004". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 7 June 2004. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
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