How a new role with Wildcats helped keep Armstrong from an interstate move

Story By Emily Clooney  The Advocate

The thought of leaving the Coast has crossed Tre Armstrong's mind more than once.  

Eyeing off a move to either Queensland or Western Australia, the 24-year-old was excited by the idea of a change of pace.  But when an opportunity to take on Wynyard's senior men's coaching role came up, he could not say no.  As a result, Armstrong will lead the Wildcats' NWBU side in the 2025 season as well as taking on the club's basketball development manager role.
The decision to stay was one Armstrong said had been motivated by a few factors, from both a basketball and personal perspective.  "I think, overall, the re-signing of Sam [Armstrong] as Thunder coach was the big one, and then the potential to have a role like at Wynyard made it pretty easy to stay here for the foreseeable future," Armstrong said.  "Knowing that I could do that at home, and I'm getting married next year so a lot of it just came together and made sense to stay."
Armstrong, who returned to the Wildcats for the 2024 season after four years in the college system, will be a non-playing coach.  And while he might not be able to make a contribution on the court, he already had an idea of the type of leader he wants to be.  "I just want to be someone who provides solutions to players, brings great energy and utilises all my experience to help others," he said. "That's the main thing, i just want to help others through all the basketball I've played and coaching is the ultimate platform to do that, whether it's juniors or seniors.
While recruiting national and international players has long been the norm in the NWBU, Armstrong made it clear that his intentions are firmly on developing the club's young talent.  "The outlook for our club going forward with me in this role is placing a heavy emphasis on development," he said.  "We will no longer recruiting imports and we'll be focusing on potentially a couple of guys who play in Launceston, maybe a Thunder recruit."
In the newly-created basketball development manager role, Armstrong will oversee the on-court operations within the club as well as providing leadership and guidance to all coaches, from under 12s to seniors. 
As part of that role, he will also help implement and provide the Bleed Blue Academy - an eight week program run on a term-by-term basis to develop the Wildcats' juniors.  "I'll run the coaching and we'll have support coaches where you'll get skill development, leadership, team practice and a bunch of different things combined into a 75-minute session weekly," he said.  "That is the main focus of this new development and we're really excited by it.  We have 195 registered members within the club and we're hoping that through this academy, we'll build quickly and grow."