ASH Hill has had a strong connection to the Portland basketball community since he started as a junior Coaster way back in under-12s, and it is a relationship which continues to this day.

This season, Hill has taken on the role of coaching the Coasters’ under-16s side, in what has been a very successful season for the group.

Of course, Hill is no stranger to coaching with Portland, saying his drive to do it for “six or seven years” has been due to a desire to give back to a program that is responsible for his introduction to basketball.

“I came right through the Coasters program since under-12s… it’s been a big part of my life since a young age,” he said.

To this day Hill is a key part of the Coasters’ senior men’s side which, this season, narrowly missed a place in the Country Basketball League finals.

As for his ongoing commitment to coaching the juniors, Hill said it comes from a desire to watch young basketballers develop.

“I think that was what brought me into doing it in the first place… seeing young players develop right before your very eyes,” he said.

“Watching the leaps and bounds they make is quite incredible… I started off doing division two sides and working with those kids was a fantastic experience.”

Hill said the community aspect of the Portland basketball community had been a big reason why he had remained motivated to keep up his involvement with the club.

“I was fortunate to have some great coaches as I was coming through the junior ranks, and for me it’s about passing on the knowledge that they gave to me to the next group of kids,” he said.

“I personally think basketball is one of the best sports in Portland in terms of the atmosphere and participation.

“Obviously footy is the most well-known sport going around, but I think basketball is just going to keep growing and growing.

“There’s so much in the pipeline, especially with the new stadium in the future, I can see the sport starting to take over in a few years.

“We’ve got kids performing at a very high standard and going on to state-level competitions… I think that provides a bit of inspiration for the kids to keep at it.”

Hill added that while the primary goal of this program without question is to help foster a love of basketball amongst the kids involved, the personal enjoyment and satisfaction that he gets out of it is a major added bonus.

“I take a lot out of it as a coach as well… seeing the stuff that you train the boys to do play out in a game is fantastic,” he said.

“Honestly, I thought we might struggle this year just with our lack of height, but to see the way the team adjusted and played to our strengths was great to watch.

“The boys have been willing to adapt to a faster pace, and we were rewarded back in our first tournament by making the grand final which was a fantastic effort.

“I was really stoked about that actually, the fact that we were such an undersized side but the team made the most of what we had was phenomenal, it’s definitely been good from my perspective to see the resilience of these young players.”

The under-16 boys were one of 12 Portland Coasters representative teams to play their home tournament, the junior South West Classic – going undefeated in their pool games before narrowly going down to Warrnambool in the grand final by two points.