Since 2017, experienced sport administrator and high-performance basketball coach Darren Winterbine has worked hard in helping Mid West athletes become the best they can be.
Since 2017, experienced sport administrator and high-performance basketball coach Darren Winterbine has worked hard in helping Mid West athletes become the best they can be.
Next month, Mr Winterbine, who represented the Newcastle Falcons at National Basketball League level during the mid-1990s, will finish in his role as chief executive officer of the Mid West Academy of Sport – a regional sporting organisation designed to prepare highly-skilled athletes for the rigours of sport at state, national and international level.
Amongst several notable former MWAS products is basketball star Alex Ducas, who earlier this week made the final 18-man roster of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and could be days away from making his National Basketball Association debut.
Mr Winterbine is the second high profile CEO to depart from a regional WA sporting academy in the last three months.
Earlier this year, founding South West Academy of Sport CEO Bernice Butlion – originally from South Africa – also left the industry, in order to pursue a teaching career in Bunbury.
With his daughters having headed off to university in Perth, Mr Winterbine told Business News the time was right for his family to make a move to the big smoke.
“We came here as a family in 2004 and were only going to stay a maximum of five years at that point,” he said.
“We ended up making it 20 years, so it’s been pretty good. The Mid West and Geraldton are great places to live and raise a family.
“Obviously, we’re going to miss the place, but for the family, it’s the best decision and one that’s taken us a long time to make and has been difficult.”
Mr Winterbine won’t be lost to regional WA sport, having taken up a role at Basketball WA as its high-performance country lead coach.
“I’ll work with the athletes and coaches in the high-performance pathway,” he said.
“With that role, I’ll then link all the athletes and coaches in our system back to the regional academies of sport, so they get that daily home training environment.
“So, when they are at home, we provide them with a weekly workout, which the coaches in the major hubs can do with them.
“I then provide that conduit from those coaches to the state coaches on how the athletes are going.
“We design and develop these programs so these athletes can get better at home and do exactly what the state coaches want and obviously in accordance with Basketball Australia.”
During his tenure with MWAS, Mr Winterbine also worked extensively with BA, which will likely bode well for him in his new role.
“I’ve been involved over the last three years with a lot of junior national teams – and been to Guam, Qatar and Istanbul for the Under 19 World Cup last year, which was amazing,” he said.
“I’ve been doing it sort of on a part-time basis for a few years, trying to help out, on top of the MWAS role.
“But now moving to Perth, I’m going to do it full-time, travel to the regions and do a fair bit of athlete/coach development.”
Aside from providing top quality resources and having access to elite coaches – such as Geelong Football Club defensive legend Harry Taylor – MWAS athletes are also able to develop off-field educational skills, in order for them to harness a life outside of their chosen sport.
From his first day back in 2017, the MWAS CEO maintained one core focus throughout his tenure.
“We’ve got to prepare our athletes to travel,” he told Business News.
“Our sole purpose – and there’s all the different regional academies of sport around WA – is being able to help build them (athletes) up over time and I’m proud of that.
“We provide that daily home training environment, and that’s how we can separate ourselves from the metro athletes.
“The biggest difference is, when our athletes are playing in their local competitions, they are against adult male and female athletes.
“But our athletes still have to travel to compete at that higher level more often in Perth or obviously interstate and overseas.
“So, we try to do everything we can to sort of bridge that gap. And it’s difficult – because the distance (424km between Geraldton and Perth) isn’t going to change and a lot of sports are incredibly metro-centric.
“You try to work with them to provide opportunities and show the sports that we’re capable of delivering a very high-level product in the regions, so the athletes don’t have to travel as much.”
Mr Winterbine also praised the support and working relationship with the MWAS board, which is chaired by revered former Geraldton track and field legend, Gary Clark.
Mr Clark also has a meeting room named in his honour at Geraldton’s Mid West Sport House, a building which accommodates all sport and recreation organisations in the region.
“The board we have would easily be the best, most strategic, board of any sporting organisation in the region,” Mr Winterbine said.
“A lot of them obviously have a good high-level sport background, but we also have others from all different walks of life and that’s the key to it I think.
“They are exceptionally good. Gary Clark’s the chair and he’s a sport and rec legend in the region.
“He’s also our high-performance athletics coach, so he understands it very well, along with a bunch of others who are Mid West people.
“They get the landscape, understand what our role is and how we can provide those services. They’ve been amazing to work with and for.”
Long-term, Mr Winterbine is hopeful more funding can be injected into sport and recreation industry, in order to attract the best possible administration, development and management personnel.
“I think it’ll get a lot more of a priority and hopefully a lot more funding to help out,” he said.
“With the focus on the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane, a lot of the sports will need to do a lot more recruiting and getting more good people involved.”
