Tangaroa sets sights high as coach of promising Bay side | Hawkes Bay Sport | Surfing, Rugby, Soccer, Football, Cricket in Hawkes Bay

Christmas came early for Softball Hawke's Bay's managing director Roger Aranui yesterday.

Three-time world champion and Black Sox pitching coach Chubb Tangaroa accepted the head coach role for the Hawke's Bay men's team, who will play in the country's elite competition - the National Fastpitch Championship (NFC) at North Harbour in February.

Tangaroa will be assisted by long-time Hawke's Bay age-group coach Kevin Gettins, who like his Hawke's Bay Evergreens teammate Tangaroa, is no stranger to winning national titles as a coach or player.

Gettins is the Junior White Sox assistant coach and will have this role at next year's Junior World Series in South Africa.

"To have coaches of this calibre at the helm as the Bay makes a long-awaited return to this level is a huge coup for Hawke's Bay's flagship team," said Aranui.

He was referring to the fact Hawke's Bay hasn't been represented at the elite men's level since the mid-1990s.

Tangaroa's troops will be up against Auckland, Wellington, Hutt Valley, North Harbour, Canterbury and Southern Pride in the championship.

"Our board has high expectations for the side and believe a top-four finish is achievable," said Aranui.

Tangaroa told SportToday he was rapt to be given the reins with a team likely to be full of "young and exciting players from within the province".

"If you feed off the comments made by Eddie (Black Sox coach Eddie Kohlhase) when he was in the Bay last month, which indicated players don't have to leave the Bay to make the Black Sox, that speaks volumes," Tangaroa said.

He said Kohlhase and Black Sox assistant coach Dave Workman were amazed with the potential players the Bay boasts.

"There are players here with lots of speed and flair who are capable of playing good defence. Hopefully with my experience I can pass something on to them," Tangaroa said.

His long-term goal is to produce more Black Sox players for the end-of-season tour to North America. Maraenui Pumas pitcher Regan Manley and Fast Pitch infielder Aaron Kuru are both in the Black Sox side, who play a three-test series against Australia next month, and Tangaroa said there may be changes to that team for the North American tour as Kohlhase builds depth ahead of the 2013 World Series in North Harbour.

"The ultimate goal of our young Bay players should be to represent the Black Sox, if that's the case and we have good pitching, we should be competitive at NFC level," he added.

Tangaroa will have another look at Hawke's Bay premier men's matches this weekend before announcing a 22-strong training squad.

Softball New Zealand board member Mike Bills and Bay sports administrator Shane Hurndell will manage the Bay team.