School teacher by day, self-confessed basketball tragic the rest of the time.
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Though with COVID-19 restrictions in place, fulfilling both passions has been a little difficult of late for Steve Delaney.
But the Bulli High School teacher has come up with a novel way to get his fix and make sure his students on and off the court also benefit.
The head technology teacher has developed a series of short basketball videos focusing on drills and skills, which he has uploaded to his fledgling YouTube channel.
Mr Delaney said the skills' videos aim to keep his students and representative players connected to basketball over the next couple of months.
"I'm just trying to keep kids happy and active," he said.
"It is a difficult time for us all at the moment.
"I don't want people going crazy because they aren't getting to do their sport or regular activities.
"If I'm doing something that is helping to make people smile, that makes me very happy."
The self-confessed basketball tragic not only coaches five sessions of basketball at the school every week, he also coaches a junior representative basketball team (U14s Boys Division 1) for the Illawarra Hawks and six club teams for The North in the Illawarra Basketball Junior Competition.
The diminutive point guard also plays basketball for the Sutherland Sharks team in the Barrengarry Conference competition.
Mr Delaney misses playing and coaching but is loving the fact his kids are using his videos to keep active and happy.
"I'm not getting to coach any kids at the moment, so I thought I'd have a go at filming and sharing some drills that they can work on at home," he said.
"The response from the kids has been pretty good. I'm trying to get a few more of them to actually share videos but I don't think they want to share videos because they can't beat some of my scores."
Mr Delaney added the more kids and young people that are getting active and trying to stay sane through sports, the better.
"It's really important for the mental health of these kids to stay active while they are at home," he said.
"I want to get them off the lounge, out of their rooms, away from their gaming for a bit of exercise and to work on their skills so that when we do get back, they are ready to go."
Liam Barclay, a Year 8 student at Bulli High School, is a huge fan of Mr Delaney and was training with him for three sessions a week until recently.
"He's an awesome coach," Liam said.
"The YouTube videos are cool and I'll will be checking them out to keep my skills up."
Mr Delaney's Bulli High School team and South Coast representative team were having a great year before COVID19 shut down all sports activities.
"Winning is great, but I'm really all about the kids learning and working hard," he said.
"The YouTube skills videos are a bit of fun and a little bit of serious. I'm happy if they can help my students and any other kids out there improve their game and keep fit at the same time."
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Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
