Sam Senior is back for his second season with the Otago Nuggets as an assistant coach this year.
They opened their 2024 season with an 86-79 win in overtime against the Southland Sharks last weekend.
It was a "real privilege"to be a part of the team, Senior said.
"As a youngster, I’ve been a diehard sports fan. Rugby, basketball, it’s just always been a dream to be involved in a professional team."
The 21-year-old not take the opportunity lightly and is always willing to help out wherever he is needed.
"I try to do as much as I can. Whether that’s cutting up film, running the boys through stuff on the court or even just doing the little jobs like keeping the score at training."
Being so young, Senior is coaching players much older than he is.
Commanding respect from "a good bunch of guys" is key, he said.
"It helps knowing them personally and being mates with them outside of basketball."
After leaving Waitaki Boys’ High School and moving to Dunedin, Senior received got his first taste of coaching helping out Ian Cathcart at his old school.
"When I came to Dunedin, I was studying sport management and didn’t really know what I wanted to do. Picked up coaching, helping out Waitaki Boys’ and it was quite enjoyable. Then I got my foot in the door with the Nuggets and just got really lucky, I guess."
He began doing video analysis for the Nuggets in 2021 during his first year at university after fellow Waitakian and former Nuggets assistant coach Hamish Robertson got him involved.
From there, he was elevated to assistant coach in 2023 and is now the North Otago under-18 coach.
This year, Senior has also taken over from Cathcart, who is spending 2024 in Australia, as head coach for Waitaki Boys’.
He loved being able to pick the brain of Nuggets head coach Brent Matehaere, who has two NBL championships and won coach of the year for the league in 2020.
His fellow assistant coaches, Dan Vlahov and Ben Peterson, both have experience with the Perth Wildcats in the Australian NBL.
The latter was also a player development intern with the Philadelphia 76ers during the 2023 National Basketball Association Summer League in the US.
He was also able to learn from Gerard Martin, who was a Nuggets assistant coach last year and is now with the Wildcats in the same role.
