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Written by Siam
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Saturday, 13 September 2008 |
I played in the Colts for Pirates Rugby Club in Dunedin in '92 and '93
and Duncan Laing was coach of the senior A's during this time.
Everybody called him Duncan or "Dunc" and it would have not been remiss
of us, (indeed everyone at the club) to call him "Mr Laing", but Duncan
would certainly have none of that. I can't really recall any
conversations with him, doubt he even knew who I was - that's probably
strictly not true, as he would have undoubtedly kept a cursory eye on
any player in the club - but that's beside the point.
I didn't
know he was a brilliant and dedicated swimming coach until the
Barcelona Olympics. Before then, as far as I was concerned, he was the
the seniors coach and every one of the older statesmen at the club
relayed tales of him with great respect and admiration.
Put simply the man had mana.
And this was in rugby circles.
I
gleaned that he was a man not given to choose his words frivously. We
had, at the time, Brett McCormick as our star halfback (got stuck
behind Stu Forster for a long time but had the "quality player"
pedigree of age group NZ reps and could dominate a game at club level)
and Graeme Dempster at first five - another dominant club player. Dunc
referred to all his players by their position, not their names.
"Yeah
the first five played all right", or at practise, "Halfback! Stop
kicking the ball away!". Everyone was the same and they all felt that
they were the same.
It was widely known in the club, yet never
mentioned by Duncan, that he and his family took many foster kids into
their home, and also, that Dunc would fall asleep at fine sessions (of
the type that were prevalent in the 80's and 90's and which us
youngsters would give our eye teeth to be part of - lots of jugs of
sponsors products - you remember fellas).
It only dawned on me
later that he'd been up every single tuesday, thursday and saturday
mornings (among others) at 4am to coach Danyon and the rest, and was
still committing wholeheartedly to a serious coaching role in the
evenings and weekends. No wonder he used to sleep at court sessions!
That's
up in the freezing dark to assist people in their life goals and
finishing in the freezing dark to assist people in their life goals.
He
was a straight talker, a brilliantly practical man, and a positive
influence on more people than will ever be formally acknowledged, from
olympic gold medallists to homeless kids to first time swimmers and
scrawny colts halfbacks.
He knew swimming, of that there is no doubt, but he was also a rugby man through and through.
The point is, Duncan Laing was an incredible kiwi.
RIP Dunc.
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