New era, familiar face: Tauranga Whai appoint new head coach for 2025 season
Tauranga's professional women's basketball team has a new head coach — and it's a familiar face.
The Whai franchise has turned to Tane Bennett, who already knows the ins and outs of the 2024 championship-winning team having previously coached in a different role.
The Tauranga local will coach the Whai for the upcoming Tauihi league 2025 season, a statement from the team said.
Bennett started in the Whai academy, which led to roles assisting in the local league's women's and men's teams.
He has been head coach of the Whai Rapid League, a standalone competition with shorter 16-minute games that are played before regular-season Tauihi games.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
30-05-2025
- NZ Herald
Whanganui club rugby: Taihape's young squad eyes crucial wins for quarter-final spot
Brought to you by Whanganui Rugby The young guns of Bennett's Taihape want to build on a proud club legacy as the race for premium Tasman Tanning Senior quarter-final positions is coming down to the wire. Taihape have had a tough row to hoe so far in 2025 with a
NZ Herald
23-05-2025
- NZ Herald
Secondary School basketball: Aquinas College wins nationals
Wade said the team had forged an unbreakable, unbeaten bond in their three-on-three season. Wade said that he, Kaumoana, and Flavell tasted success last year, winning the same tournament but losing one game in the previous year's tournament. 'But then we went on to win.' Wade and Kaumoana were selected for the tournament All-Star roster, Wade said. Kaumoana became the go-to scorer for the team, netting 92 points and being named MVP for the tournament. 'We just started throwing the ball to Kaumoana, and he would get us the points to win.' Three-on-three is a quicker, more offensive style of basketball with no coach present. Teams need to net 21 points or have the highest score before the final whistle, and the game has a shorter shot clock, Wade said. 'You don't have as much time to think.' Flavell, Kaumoana, and Wade play on the Tauranga Whai basketball team, where they learn to play with other athletes of different ages and ethnicities. 'It is pretty competitive,' he said. The Whai are now in their second season and are slowly building a fan base, Wade said. Wade said the boys make up the Aquinas College five-on-five side and are single-A national champions. The boys kept to a strict twice-a-week training schedule between their training for the five-a-side squad, he said. Flavell, Kaumoana, and Wade have played together on the same team since Year 10 and described their play as having a 'telepathy' to it. 'We knew what each other was thinking on the court,' Wade said. Single-A competition includes schools with fewer than 500 students, and this year, the team will face off against some of the largest double-A schools, Wade said. After this season, the three seniors will hand over the reins to Workman, who started playing basketball competitively a year ago. Wade said he is confident that Workman will be able to carry on the legacy of the current team and that he needs to find the right players. 'Bring them up to like your level and push each other,' Wade said. The talent and dedication of the Aquinas basketball students was remarkable, principal Matt Dalton said. 'Schools of our size shouldn't be competing for national titles. We're competing at schools in the thousands, where we're in the hundreds,' Dalton said.
Otago Daily Times
01-05-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Duo cycle length of NZ
A pair of South Canterbury cyclists have successfully pedalled their way down the length of New Zealand. Shane Brookland and Brian Bennett set off on February 22, along with friend Evan MacClure, who completed the North Island leg of the tour, to tackle the 3000km bikepacking odyssey Tour Aotearoa. The tour challenges riders to pedal their way from Cape Reinga to Bluff through a combination of cycle trails, tracks, paths and lanes connected by country roads. It took the experienced duo 23 days to complete the tour, riding eight hours, about 130km a day. Mr Brookland said they had been looking to tackle the tour for the last decade. "We've done a bit of bikepacking and this was one of the things that we needed to get ticked off the list. "We finally booked it and after that you are committed. "There was a natural gap this year too. Normally it clashed with the charity ride, which I've been heavily involved in for the last 15-odd years. "We both turn 50 this year and as you get older you suddenly realise you start to run out of runway, so stuff's got to get done." Mr Bennett said it was tricky to train for the ride. "How do you train for a three-week trip? "You just try and fit some longer rides in six months out and we tend to cycle all year round. "As the summer months came around we started doing overnight trips and then just gradually increasing distance, time and consistency, day after day." The first three days of the tour were the hardest, Mr Brookland said. "We pushed our schedule pretty hard for the first three days. We had a water crossing to get into Auckland so we were quite mindful that we needed to block out a fair chunk of countryside. "A lot of people went for a four-day schedule to the boat. We went for three, and a couple of clowns did it in two. "Our biggest elevation day was day two so we climbed 2.5km on that day but it was probably the heat that caught us out the most." He said day five was probably their first easier day. "It was pretty simple after that, really. It was just a case of eat, pack up, ride, eat more, unpack, set up, eat more, sleep, do it again. "We did pretty well. We knew what to do, how to not push too hard and blow yourself up. "It's fair to say it did keep us honest and fatigue did kick in but after 20-odd days not many people would be able to say they weren't tired." Mr Bennett said stopping off at the designated photo points was his highlight. "The tour has 30 photo points that you stop at and take a photo. "They prove that you've been there but they're also natural points of interest as you go through. "I was focusing on getting to those and there were a few that did intrigue me more than others." He said the stops gave them something to look forward to. "A lot of that route I'd never been through before so it was all pretty interesting." He also highlighted the fact that the landscape they cycled through dramatically changed every two or three days. "You'd go from native forest to pine forest to plantations to native bush to farmland. "I always found that quite interesting as well." Mr Brookland said a "magic" section of trail between Lake Kaniere and Hokitika was a highlight, as well as the people they met along the way. "Every time I go touring it always harks back to the fact that you meet some cool people. "Whether they're behind a counter in a shop or bike touring, tourists or just Joe average." He said through the trip they engaged with different people they would never usually meet. "You end up having a chat for five minutes because you've got five minutes and that's actually quite a cool part of this whole style. "If someone's in strife you give them a hand and a mandarin shared on the side of the track with another bike packer seems to be like gold some days." Mr Bennett said it took a little bit of time to fully comprehend completing the tour. "It was hard to look at it as a whole picture because we were looking at it a day at a time. "Talking to other people afterwards they seemed to almost have a better recollection of the entirety of the trip than than I did, until I actually sat down and looked through the photos and put the whole thing together. "It wasn't until then you sort of start to appreciate where you've been and you've done." He said that was when he realised he actually accomplished the feat. The pair said they would now be setting their sights on completing other tours like Southland's Tuatara 1000 and Kopiko Aotearoa. "While we are capable we might as well do what we can and it's a fantastic way to see bits of the countryside."
