In the Paint with Gliders Assistant Coach Matt Dunstan
Gliders assistant coach and Basketball Victoria staff member, Matt Dunstan spoke to Brett Phillips and Dandenong Rangers coach Dale Waters on In the Paint - Talking Basketball on SEN Sports Radio last Sunday.
Below you can find a transcript of the interview, or listen to the audio by following the link.
SEN Sports Radio is Australia's only 24 hour sports station. Inside the Paint – Talking Basketball airs between 7-9pm AEDT Sundays on SEN Sports Radio 1116AM in Melbourne or streaming live on www.sen.com.au.
‘In the Paint’ with Brett Phillips, Dale Waters and Matt Dunstan
1116 SEN Interview Transcript – Sunday 1 November, 2009
Intro: This is In the Paint casting an eye on the world of hoops on 1116 SEN – Melbourne’s home of sport.
Brett: Guys – we are going to have a chat to Matt Dunstan who is the Glider’s Assistant Coach and also the Development Officer at Basketball Victoria. Dale you know him quite well, a current assistant coach - the Gliders have recently recorded 3 games – 1 win over Japan in a friendly series, was with the Gliders team in Beijing last year, he coached the Dandenong Women’s National Wheelchair Basketball League team as well. And he’s been good enough to join us. G’day Matt.
Matt: Hi Brett, how are you going?
Brett: Not too bad. Tell us about your role combining the coaching as well as the development role at Basketball Vic?
Matt: Yeah it’s worked out quite well – doing something you love for a job. I think no one can complain about that. It’s quite good. So part of what I do is try to find some new talent for the future and build some grassroots programs so we’ve been quite successful with that.
Dale: Hey Matty – it’s Dale here.
Matt: Hey Dale – How are you going? Yeah good mate.
Dale: Maybe you could maybe explain your pathway in getting involved with the Gliders and what your experiences have been to date in that role?
Matt: Yeah I was quite lucky, I was coaching youth league at Bankstown in Sydney and we had the West Sydney Razorbacks national league team training on court next to us who the coach of that team was Gerry Hewson, who at the time was the Glider’s coach, came over and said I really enjoy those drills that you’re running with those boys, do you think we could do that? That was in 2005 and I’ve been there ever since, so it’s been quite good.
So I started off with the NSW Institute of Sport program and went on to coach Women’s National League in Sydney then onto the Gliders and I’ve been to a World Championships and a Paralympic Games now. So, it’s been quite good.
Brett: Fantastic Matty - and of course Basketball Victoria is now expanding its wheelchair program so it’s growing all the time and I’ve got to say being down at Dandenong a few weeks ago to see the Australian team in action - it’s really entertaining and really skillful and it’s certainly great to see it expanding all the time.
Matt: Yeah it certainly is. I think we’ve struggled in Australia providing opportunities for players certainly at a grassroots level and that’s been a focus of Basketball Victoria certainly for the last two years and we’ve grown from pretty much no programs to having five regular weekly competitions as well as a state camp. So that’s been quite a lot of work in the past 18 months.
Brett: And you’ve got a coaches course I believe coming up shortly?
Matt: We do, we run a Carers to Coaches program. A lot of the participants we deal with are in day services so we thought why not put some of these guys into coaching and learning how to coach. So it’s a program where they come down, do a basic Level 1 course and then run programs for us.
Brett: Alright, magnificent. Now, where can people find out more about at Basketball Vic there Matt in terms of the Gliders and what’s happening at wheelchair basketball?
Matt: Yeah – if they visit basketballvictoria.com.au or give me a call at Basketball Victoria is usually a good point. Basketball Australia also have a great part of their website which is basketball.net.au and there’s certainly lots of information on there.
Brett: Great stuff mate, it sounds like it’s going pretty well. We’ll keep in touch and certainly follow up here on In the Paint.
Matt: Yep, no problems.
Brett: Matt Dunstan, Glider’s Assistant coach and also development officer at Basketball Victoria.
