Trip home takes Parke down memory lane

Former Otago Nugget Andrew Parke with daughter Lilly at the Edgar Centre yesterday, both down for the under-15 national basketball championships with the Auckland girls’ team. Photo: Gerard O'Brien.

His latest trip, home to Dunedin, might not be as exotic as some he has undertaken, but it has been an interesting one.

The former Otago Nuggets and Tall Blacks big man is in town coaching his daughter Lilly’s Auckland team at the under-15 basketball national championships.

Having moved north seven years ago with his two children and wife, former Otago Rebels midcourter Megan Parke, the 44-year-old now runs his own business, Fuzion Travel.

It is something he loves doing and he has been able to combine his job with basketball several times.

That has involved organising and escorting supporters’ tours following the Tall Blacks to Spain and the Philippines in 2014 and 2016.

He was also to lead a Breakers supporters’ tour to Australia and had begun planning a tour for the 2019 World Cup in China, he said.

That kept him busy, although he still found time to take the court on a Wednesday night in a team that boasts many names from the past.

Those included former Nugget and Tall Black Chris Simpson and ex-Tall Blacks Konrad Ross and Brad Riley.

However, it was coaching that had brought the former Bayfield High School pupil back to town.

In the role for the first time, Parke was hoping to leave the girls with a good impression of the game.

"It’s about having fun; they are 13 and 14-year-old girls," he said.

"But it is a great experience for them, just getting them out of Auckland, getting on a plane as a team, staying in a motel as a team, cooking dinners and dishes. It’s all part of the whole growing-up experience.

"I’ve got fond memories of my tournament days and its great to give my kids that opportunity to experience it."

He was one of several big names in town for the tournament.

Fellow former Nuggets Mark Dickel, Ed Book and Kane Hokianga were among those present, as were Dillon Boucher and Paora Winitana.

Seeing so many old teammates giving back to the game was great and something that stirred memories of the camaraderie in the game.

Parke had done plenty in his career, having played for the Nuggets from 1991-95 and 2000-03, and coming back for a game in 2010.

In the late 1990s he had stints in Hawke’s Bay, Auckland and North Harbour, as well as turning out for the Tall Blacks in 1995, ’98 and ’99.

A lot of highlights came across those years, although a couple were especially memorable.

"Going to the finals weekends with the Otago Nuggets, with the Jerome Fitchetts, the amazing athletes that come out from America.

"Probably ’91, when I was 18, 19, when Jerome hit that shot on the buzzer against Nelson in the quarterfinals.

"To be able to go up to the Palmerston North weekend, that was a great weekend. Unfortunately we lost in the semis.

"All the tours for the Tall Blacks stick out, again combining my two loves, travel and basketball."

His Auckland team was in the 13th to 18th section of  this week’s tournament and had won one of its four games.

● Otago lost its quarterfinal in the girls’ section to Tauranga 62-54.

After leading most of the way, the hosts succumbed to a late flurry from Tauranga.

Foul trouble hurt it down the stretch, while its offence struggled against Tauranga’s full court press.In the boys’ section, Otago is playing in the 13th to 19th section and played Porirua last night.