Don Tricker

Who is Don Tricker?

Don Tricker is a former player and coach of the New Zealand national softball team and senior advisor of high performance coaching at the New Zealand Academy of Sport.

Tricker's grandfather was one of the country's leading softball umpires and played a key role in introducing the game to the Wellington region. Tricker played for Porirua until he was 22 then moved to Poneke Kilbirnie, claiming regional and national titles with both clubs, and played for the Black Socks on and off between 1986 to 1991. He began his coaching career at Poneke Kilbirnie in 1996, while he was still playing, and was named Black Sock coach two years later. He coached the team to two world championship wins in 2000 and three consecutive world titles. He was named coach of the year at the Halberg awards in 2000 after leading the team to a world series victory in South Africa and was made an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2004. He retired as national coach in 2004, being replaced by Eddie Kohlhase.