On Saturday, September 4th the Canterbury Rams announced that they are parting ways with Head Coach Mick Downer. This is devastating news to the entire basketball community of Canterbury on many levels.

Three years ago, Mick and his wife, Mel Downer moved over from Australia to take over the Canterbury Rams, Mainland Eagles and Canterbury Rep Programme as well as working for BBNZ. In that short time, the basketball couple have established professionalism, community and culture in every team and programme they have run. Mick has coached the Canterbury Rams the past three seasons, despite major injuries and covid restrictions, he has willed the team to either being 1 or 2 games away from making the grand finale as well as being named the 2019 NBL Coach of the year. In addition he has grown the staff and community around the Rams to a strength in numbers that is unseen and unheard when it comes to a NZNBL team.

Mel on the other hand has reestablished our high school programmes with such discipline, skill and knowledge of the game that our U17 Rep team won gold for both boys and girls and U19s came away with gold and silver. Something that has never been done before in Canterbury. In addition, Mel has created a strong presence for girls basketball in the area and helped grow the numbers in the sport as well as slotting into the Canterbury Wildcats head coach where the women’s team had made a strong start to the season before round two of lockdown hit.

Outside of coaching players, the basketball couple have educated and up skilled 100 plus coaches in the area so they too can go out and help kids at their schools and clubs. For us as a community to let them walk away would be both a travesty and devastating blow to the progress our basketball community has made the past 3 years under their reign.

If you have felt the positive impact the Downer family have made on Canterbury basketball and want to see it grow, please sign this petition so we can keep Mick at the helm of the mighty Rams and we can continue to strive to make Canterbury the basketball powerhouse we all know it can be.