NZ Breakers guard Kirk Penney announces retirement from basketball

  • 22/02/2018
The guard has announced he will hang up the boots at the end of the season.
The guard has announced he will hang up the boots at the end of the season. Photo credit: Photosport

New Zealand Breakers great Kirk Penny has called time on his career, announcing that we will hang up the boots at the end of the NBL season.

Penney has played 158 games for the Auckland franchise over six seasons across two stints and has played in a number of different leagues around the world, including six games in the NBA.

In a heartfelt letter to the club and Breaker Nation, Penney explained his decision one that was very much made with family past present and future in mind.

"The Penney family arrived on a boat to New Zealand in 1842. My Dad was born in Kawakawa up north, my Mum in Whitianga on the Coromandel Peninsula. I feel my family has been in New Zealand for a fair while and I’m a typical Kiwi kid who, through the grace of God and the game of basketball, has been given the opportunity to see the world. 

"Playing basketball has been a big part of my life and retiring in New Zealand with the Breakers means a lot to me.

"I want to thank Paul and Liz Blackwell and their lovely family for being wonderful friends and inspiring me to come home when I was playing abroad. To be a part of the Breakers culture and the growth of basketball in New Zealand. 

"I want to thank Paul Henare and Dillon Boucher for letting me run full circle to have a second stint with the Breakers and finish my race where it all started.”

He also enjoyed a storied career with the Tall Blacks and was apart of the squad which finished fourth at the 2002 World Championships. 

 

Penny has not played for the Breakers since February 2 due to a calf injury.

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