Sydney, Melbourne and the Great Andrew Gaze

It was game 2 of a 3 game semi final series. The Sydney Kings needed to win to keep their season alive against the old foe Melbourne United.

A loss would not only end the quest for championship glory, but it would also be the last game as coach for the great Andrew Gaze, who as a player was a five time Olympian and two time Championship winner with the Melbourne Tigers.

It was somewhat fitting that Melbourne would take the win and finish off the the Kings and one of Melbourne’s greatest sons in Gaze and thus ending his time as coach with a 76-90 final score.

I always knew when I started taking photos as a 14 year old in suburban Sydney that one day I’d end up shooting the Kings games.

Before it was love at first sight with photography my first love was basketball.
My older brother started playing first and it wasn’t long after that I started too.

I would have been around 10 years old at the time and was hooked straight away, and if you were a basketball fan in the 90’s a mix of Michael Jordan in the NBA and Andrew Gaze in the NBL it was just a great time to find to sport of Basketball.

It was only a matter of time before my two loves came together and to be a witness to one of my heroes in Gaze as a coach for The Kings just a privilege.

And to be there during his final game was bittersweet, as I would have loved to have shot him and the Kings win the Championship but that’s how sports go.

It’s not always a fairy tale ending but a piece of history happened and it was a honor to be there, camera in hand and still chasing my own dreams.

My favorite sequence of pictures from the season was at the end of the game when Melbourne’s Chris Goulding and the Sydney coach shared a beautiful embrace. Two basketball and Melbourne legends who knew the significance of the moment. Sport at its best.