Faces in the crowd: Hawks intern coach Patrick Williamson

During the Illawarra Hawks' 43-year existence, 221 players have pulled on the club's jersey.

But the number of fans who have supported the foundation club during that period is exponentially more.

As such, the club has decided to profile some of the most prominent and longest-serving HawkHeads with our new 'faces in the crowd' series.

After profiling numerous long-time HawkHeads, including most recently Bob Purcell, we decided to highlight the excellent work of some of the heartbeats behind the scenes of this current Hawks group - such as intern coach Patrick Williamson.

The now 27-year-old has been involved in basketball for two decades, from when he first started playing as his older brother Barton was.

"In summer we played cricket and then in winter, he played in the local basketball competition while my sister Sarah and I did Aussie Hoops at Bankstown," Williamson said.

"Eventually, cricket was phased out and basketball became a year-round sport."

Since then, the St Mary's Cathedral College alum has grown to love basketball and devoted countless hours to the Sutherland Sharks.

"I've been involved in a large number of clubs during my basketball playing career, but most notably the last few years I have been involved with Sutherland, as both a player and a coach," he said.

"I got involved with the club as a player when former NBL player BJ Carter, who coached me at the Australian College of Sport, mentioned that Waratah League trials were that night.

"While at ACS, I realised I wanted to give back to the sport and I got involved with the community and started coaching representative teams.

"I grew to love being involved in the community and helping younger players achieve their goals.

"I always harboured dreams of being involved in hoops as long as I could, particularly as a player but the goalposts have gradually changed into a coaching-first focus."

That passion for the sport led him to join the foundation NBL club at the start of the 2021-22 season.

"I got involved in the Hawks just by scrolling on LinkedIn and saw they had applications for intern coaches," he said.

"I applied on the spot and thought being around a team like the Hawks and especially Brian [Goorjian] being fresh off the Olympics was too good an opportunity not to apply for."

A regular day in the life of Williamson will see him assist trainer Phil Driscoll and high performance manager Alex Moore set-up and pack down the practice venue, rebound for players as they arrive/during the session/after training, hold spare balls/sweat towels, film and code practice and run the clock. 

Then on a game day, he rebounds for the players as they come out in their warm-up groups, organise the live capture setup for the game, live code the game, assist the coaching staff with any tasks as they come up, distribute the video files as required to the coaching staff and rebound for players as required. 

Of all the game days in NBL22, the most memorable to Williamson are the two road wins against Melbourne United.

"The two wins in Melbourne, within seven days of each other, stand out to me," he said.

"One was without Brian [Goorjian] and the other without Tyler [Harvey], highlighting the depth and culture we have here at the club."

While Illawarra's NBL22 campaign has now come to an end, Williamson admits he's learnt plenty under the three coaches and alongside fellow intern coach Angus Bourke and Decclan McLean.

"One of the biggest things I've learnt during my short time here from the coaches is how important communication with their players and fellow staff members are," he said.

"They're all on the same page, with the same goal in mind and massively helps things move forward.

"Another thing I've learnt from being around the other coaches and my short time is that the coaches constantly hold their players to a high expectation for the whole season and that's a big reason for how the regular season panned out the way it did."

Assistant coach Roger, who works closely with each of the three intern coaches, had high praise for Williamson and the contribution he's made during the NBL22 season.

"We have been tremendously fortunate to have a high calibre individual like Patrick Williamson involved in our intern coach program," Roger said.

"Both individuals have displayed a willingly selfless attitude and a growth mindset to their approach in the day-to-day function of the team.

"Their approach to the program has allowed us to further develop our workflows as a coaching staff, as well as enabling our ability to service each individual athlete’s pre/post-practice needs. 

"Our extended support staff are part of the Hawks family; it has been no different with our intern coach group.

"Pat, Angus and Decclan are all high character, hardworking and naturally inquisitive learners.

"As a staff, we are thankful for their commitment and have enjoyed their company through a challenging COVID-19 impacted NBL season."