THE only thing that CJ Jackson had left to achieve in his basketball life in Perth was to coach a Women's SBL team and now he's in his fourth season at the helm of the Perry Lakes Hawks and it could very well be giving him the most satisfaction.

Jackson has had a remarkable time since arriving in Perth 25 years ago having firstly been a star player in the early years of the SBL and since he has coached in the Men's SBL including being Coach of the Year in 1999 at the Cockburn Cougars.

He also spent time at Basketball WA HQ in charge of the SBL and has continued to do enormous work coaching and teaching junior basketballers throughout the state.

With fourth looking safe Hawks look to challenge Women's top three 

The one thing left to tick off was to coach a Women's SBL team and Jackson was appointed head coach of the Lady Hawks back in 2013.

After some development years in 2013 and 2014, the Hawks took a step forward last year making the playoffs from seventh position before losing to grand finalists the Willetton Tigers in the quarter finals.

Now with the group he has worked with the last three years heading to their prime, Jackson was able to lure star veterans Deanna Smith and Antonia Edmondson to Perry Lakes for 2016.

The result has been the Hawks currently sitting in fourth position and likely to stay there no matter the results in their final two games both at home to the Rockingham Flames and Kalamunda Eastern Suns.

Jackson wasn’t sure how he would go coaching in the Women's SBL when he took on the job at the Hawks but now into his fourth season and he couldn’t speak more highly of the experience.

"I love coaching. I've been in the men's league for so long and to get a change and coach women's basketball has been fantastic. I love coaching women's basketball," Jackson said.

"The thing about the women is that a lot of them don't have the same athletic ability as the men, so most of them are fundamentality sound and you know what you are working with. They all want to learn and they are like sponges picking it up."

Jackson is at the helm of a Perry Lakes team that with the experience of Smith and Edmondson, and continued emergence of Annika Renkema, Kate Anthony, Lauren Jeffers, Emma Clarke, Sarah Donovan, Kristan Teasdale, Emily Burton and Brieana Nolan that is looking to have a real impact come the post-season.

Jackson has no doubt that given the history with everything he has done in the sport means that his players instantly listen to him.

That respect has helped to build a strong relationship between his players and himself because if they give him that respect, he gives them his full faith and trust.

"The thing with me is that I have held so many different positions within the league. I've been with the Wildcats and I have a resume that says you need to listen to what I'm saying," Jackson said.

"So because of that I think I can get the girls to understand that I know where they are at in a particular game or season because I've experienced it. I can talk to them so they can learn from my experiences because I know what works good and what doesn’t.

"If you listen to me about what's not good, you will be a better player because I've made those mistakes. The benefit for me is that I've been a GM, assistant coach, men's coach, player-coach and coaching the women, I've had so many hats so they do listen to me more as a result."

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Mick Cronin