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Winning the National Basketball League has been a fitting finale for a woman who has been one of the driving forces behind the success of the team.
Southland Sharks operations manager Jill Bolger has resigned after 17 years.
The Sharks beat the Wellington Saints 104-101 in the league final earlier this month.
Ms Bolger said she had enjoyed an “amazing run” with the team.
“Just to finish it up the way it finished up with the team winning was just icing on the cake.”
It was also good for the players who had been beaten in last year’s final by the Saints.
“A lot of the boys came back this year to fight the good fight again and get a bit of revenge if you like so it was perfect for them as well.”
Growing up her main sport was softball but because her older sisters played basketball she attended games and started playing.
“I was in the rep teams and bits and pieces, so I was never going to set the world on fire.”
When she was in her early 20s she started helping with some of Southland Basketball’s administration tasks.
“I started working for them on a part-time basis just a few hours a week, just doing some accounts and, you know, running a few competitions.”
Then she became a board member and later chairwoman of the board.
In 2009 Southland won the second tier national basketball competition.
The board was approached about entering a team in the national league.
“We were pretty naive about it at the time, and we sort of put it in the too-hard basket.”
However, the more the idea was discussed, the more people seemed keen to support the proposal.
Once funders, including naming sponsor, the Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) came on board, the Southland Sharks became a reality.
“We really only had three months to get everything in place.
“It was fun at the time but when I look back now, I don’t know how we did it but anyway, we did and the rest is history.”
Orange was chosen as the team colour because it was one of the colours in the SIT zero fees logo.
The colour was synonymous with the club now, she said.
“It’s just such a dominant colour and our crowd looked amazing.”
The players preferred playing in orange to the team’s alternative strip.
“That would be one thing I’d be devastated about if they ever changed the colour.”
Ms Bolger took a year’s leave from her job to become Southland Basketball and the Southland Sharks general manager but never went back.
The team has won the competition four times in the past 17 years.
“We’ve attracted some really good people, some really good coaches, some great players.”
There were teams who had been in the league longer that had never won it.
In 2022 she resigned her Southland Basketball role to concentrate on the Sharks.
The players had been known to call her “mother shark” or “shark mother”.
It had worked well for the franchise having a woman watching out for the welfare of the players, she said.
Relating to the players had been a highlight of her time in the role.
“It’s been getting to know all those young men and helping them on their journey and seeing where they can go and watch them when they have families.
“I’ll never forget them, they’re fantastic.”
One reason the franchise had been successful was community support, she said.
While she did not have a university degree, common sense had been a big help to her throughout the years.
“I think it’s being sensible when you need to be and being silly when you can be.
“Have a good time, but do it professionally.”
Honesty was also important.
“You have to be honest with yourself.
“You have to be honest with the people around you and honest with your players.”
People should never promise things they could not deliver, she said.
She was looking forward to travelling and spending more time with her family.