John Triscari

John Triscari

John Triscari as coach of the Perth Western Stars
Personal information
Nationality	Australia
Born	(1957-08-04) 4 August 1957
Sport
Country	Australia
Sport	Wheelchair basketball
Now coaching	Perth Western Stars
Medal record Wheelchair basketball Paralympic Games 2012 London Women's Wheelchair basketball

John Triscari (born 4 August 1957) is an Australian wheelchair basketball coach and school teacher. He was the coach of the Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, where the team won a silver medal. Since 2007, he has been the coach of the Perth Western Stars, which won the Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League (WNWBL) championship in 2013.

Personal life

John Triscari was born on 4 August 1957.^[1] He is in charge of physical education and health at Rockingham Senior High School in Perth, Western Australia.^[2] He coached the Rockingham Flames and Mandurah Magic in Western Australian State Basketball League.^[3]

Wheelchair basketball

Perth Western Stars

Triscari was appointed the coach of the Perth Western Stars in the Women's National Wheelchair Basketball League (WNWBL) in 2007.^[2] "Basically," he told the media, "my goal is to develop the women's team to get them winning finals."^[2] This goal proved to be elusive. Fronted by young talents Cobi Crispin and Amber Merritt, the Western Stars made the WNWBL grand final in 2008, only to be beaten by the dominant Sydney-based Hills Hornets.^[4] The Hornets delivered a second grand final loss to the Stars in 2009.^[5] The Western Stars went into the grand final as favourites in 2010, but suffered yet another defeat at the hands of the Sydney team,^[6] now renamed the Syney Uni Flames.^[7] In 2012, the Western Stars made in the grand final again, only to be defeated this time by the Victoria-based Dandenong Rangers.^[8] Finally, in the 2013 grand final, the Western Stars came from being nine points down at three quarter time to claim their first ever WNWBL championship.^[9]

Gliders

In 2009, Triscari was named as the coach of the Australian women's national wheelchair basketball team, commonly known as the Gliders. At the same time, Ben Ettridge was named as head of the men's team, the Rollers. Ettridge had worked for Triscari as a physical education teacher at Rockingham three years before, but had since become the coach of an Italian team. Ettridge had then become West Australian director of elite coaching and player development at Basketball Australia, thereby becoming Triscari's boss.^[10]

John Triscari (in black shirt and white tie) talks to his national team players.

Triscari's first tournament as Gliders coach was the 2009 Osaka Cup in Japan in February 2009. It was an auspicious start, with the Gliders beating the 2008 Summer Paralympics champions, the USA team, 57–38.^[11] Despite a losses to Canada and the host nation, the Gliders came back to defeat the USA again and claim the Osaka Cup.^[12] The Gliders would win the Osaka Cup again under Triscai in 2010 and 2012, and would be runners-up in 2011.^[13]

The Gliders competed in the 2010 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship in Birmingham, where they finished fourth,^[14] and the Four Nations Tournament in Canada in July and August 2010,^[15] where they defeated the USA 55–37 to claim the gold medal.^[16] A major hurdle was qualifying for the 2012 Summer Paralympic Games in London. The team had to finish first or second at the 2011 Asia Oceania Zone Championship in Goyang, South Korea. A loss to Japan meant that the Gliders had to beat Korea to qualify for London, which they did, 84–11.^[17] In the run-up to the London games in 2012, the Gliders won the Osaka Cup in Japan, came second in another four-nations tournament in Frankfurt, defeated Germany in the Gliders World Challenge in Sydney, and the United States in the BT Paralympic World Cup in Manchester.^[3]

The Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team at the 2012 Summer Paralympics posted wins against Brazil,^[18] Great Britain,^[19] and the Netherlands,^[20] but lost to Canada.^[21] It was enough to advance the Gliders to the quarter-finals, where they beat Mexico.^[22] The Gliders then defeated the United States by a point to set up a final clash with Germany.^[23] The Gliders lost 44–58, and earned a silver medal.^[24]

Triscari received a Coach of the Year Award from the Western Australian Department of Sports and Recreation in 2012,^[25] and again in 2013.^[26] He was succeeded as head coach of the Gliders by Tom Kyle in May 2013.^[27]

References

Australia women's national wheelchair basketball team – 2012 Summer Paralympics 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 Sarah Vinci 5 Cobi Crispin 6 Bridie Kean 7 Amanda Carter 8 Tina McKenzie 9 Leanne Del Toso 10 Clare Nott 11 Kylie Gauci 12 Shelley Chaplin 13 Sarah Stewart 14 Katie Hill 15 Amber Merritt Coach: John Triscari