Breakers’ Star Joins Navy’s Kia Kaha Programme
Kirk Penney became the second Kiwi in the NBA when he played for the Miami Heat in 2003, and has since played professionally in Spain, the NBA Development League, Israel, Lithuania and Germany.
Kirk has represented NZ at two Olympics and two World Championships. In the Australian NBL last season, he was the third leading scorer (24.0 points) and earned selection to the All-NBL Team.
The New Zealand Breakers’ star player Kirk Penney worked in partnership with the Navy and Police when he addressed a group of Navy trainees at the North Shore Policing Centre on 2 November. His talk was part of the final ‘Kia Kaha’ (stand strong) programme for naval trainees during 2009.
Commanding Officer of PHILOMEL, CAPT Dean McDougall, and Police Area Commander Les Paterson are delighted to have the Breakers on-board for the Kia Kaha programme. “The Breakers are doing a huge amount of work in the community, especially with schools. Getting Kirk Penney to work with us is a real bonus as he’s a former Westlake Boys pupil,” said CAPT McDougall. “Kirk has a great message to get across and he relates well to the young recruits.”
Kirk Penny spoke on three main themes:
- Teamwork (supporting your colleagues and those around you)
- Integrity (to know and keep to the right things);
- Courage (to do the right thing)
He described the time he was an 18-year-old rookie from New Zealand sent to the University of Wisconsin (USA) on a Basketball scholarship, with the aim of trying out for the American NBL. He explained how he never knew what commitment was, until this life-changing experience. He has gone on in professional basketball to captain the NZ Tall Blacks, but he emphasised that everyone in a team has a leadership role.
Approximately 700 naval trainees have been through the Kia Kaha programme since it started two years ago, with former All Black Captain Buck Shelford as a mentor. Kia Kaha aims to teach new Navy recruits about values, personal accountability and judgement, as they adjust to life in their new community of North Shore City.
“The Navy’s recruits are drawn from all over New Zealand; they are young and most have never lived away from home before. They have new responsibilities and will face new pitfalls, so the aim of the session is to help prepare them for this,” said Police Commander Paterson.
Subsequently, Inspector Paterson and another stalwart of the Kia Kaha programme, Mr Brian Warren, were each awarded a DCN’s Commendation for their contribution to Kia Kaha.
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