Tauranga basketballers will take on the rest of the season with renewed skills and energy, after spending time with one of the industry's best.

Tauranga City Basketball general manager Mark Rogers, says players in their age-group representative programme have been lucky enough to be coached this week by former Cairns Taipans coach Aaron Fearne.

'It's been great, Aaron's knowledge is amazing and we're very lucky.

'He's been involved in coaching the Tall Blacks at the Commonwealth Games, and he's been speaking with the new High Performance manager around the new national style of play.

'A lot of the stuff Aaron has been doing on the court with our players has been introducing those concepts and it's been great.”

He says these concepts have been valuable to Tauranga players.

'The reinforcement of fundamental skills has been invaluable. It ensures our players have the ability to continue to perform at a high level.

'The kids have been attentive and have soaked it up.”

Aaron who has in recent months been coaching the Tall Blacks during the Commonwealth Games, says he was contacted by New Plymouth Basketball.

'They asked if I could come over after that and do some coaching, camps and clinics. They set that up for me to do this in New Plymouth, Gisborne, Rotorua and here in Tauranga.”

He says he's been here for about two weeks.

'I've been introducing some new concepts for style of play here in New Zealand. It's my way of giving back and passing on my knowledge of the game.

'I think Tauranga matches up well to the other centres I've been on as part of my coaching here in New Zealand in the past two weeks.

'There's a good understanding that skill-levels need to improve; the ability to dribble with the ball, pass, and just make simple decisions with the right timing and why you're doing it.

'Obviously these players are learning a new skill set, but their concentration and willingness to ask questions has been fantastic.”

Aaron says players apart of the coaching programme have been aged between 12-16 years old.

'It's better to hand this information to them earlier on at a younger age,” he says. 'When they get older, habits have been established and you have to break them.

'I hope through New Zealand Basketball I have done my bit to try and slowly introduce this style of play.”