Don Tricker is a former player and coach of the New Zealand national softball team

Black Socks

The Black Socks are the New Zealand national men's softball team. They won the World Championships in 1976 , 1984, 1996, 2000 and 2004...

 (Black Socks) 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

Porirua

Porirua is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand, immediately north of the city of Wellington, with their central business districts 20 km apart. A large proportion of the population commutes to Wellington, so it may be considered a satellite city. It almost completely surrounds...

 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

Halberg awards

The Westpac Halberg awards recognise New Zealand's top sporting achievements.The annual award was started in 1949 by NZ Sportsman magazine founder Jack Fairburn...

 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

New Zealand Order of Merit

The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order established in 1996 "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rendered meritorious service to the Crown and nation or who have become distinguished by their eminence, talents, contributions or other merits."The order includes five...

 in 2004. He retired as national coach in 2004, being replaced by Eddie Kohlhase

Eddie Kohlhase

Eddie Kohlhase is a former member of the New Zealand National Softball team, called the "Black Sox" and he is the current coach of the Black Sox, beginning his tenure in 2004.-Early life:...

. In 2002, after 6 years in the information technology

Information technology

Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...

 sector, Tricker was appointed as senior advisor of high performance coaching at the New Zealand Academy of Sport, a unit of Sport and Recreation New Zealand

Sport and Recreation New Zealand

Sport and Recreation New Zealand is the New Zealand government body responsible for community sport and recreation programs. It was formed on 1 January 2003 and took over the functions of the Hillary Commission, the New Zealand Sports Foundation and the policy arm of the Office of Tourism and...

. Tricker and Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

 lawyer Mike Heron prepared a report into the All Blacks

All Blacks

The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....

 early World Cup

2007 Rugby World Cup

The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 20 October. France won the hosting rights in 2003,...

 exit. In 2010 the New Zealand Rugby Union has appointed Tricker as the High Performance Manager.