John Grocott has given 50 years of service to basketball. He began playing at Wellington College in the mid 1950’s before he moved to attend Canterbury University.
Grocott started playing at Canterbury Basketball in 1956 and took up the role of Club Treasurer in the early 60’s. During that period he was elected to the Committee of the Canterbury Men’s Basketball Association. Grocott was President in 1970 when the men’s and women’s associations combined to form the Canterbury Basketball Association.
In 1967, Grocott attained his National Refereeing badge and refereed in local Christchurch competitions for the next 40 years. From 1970 through until 1980, he organised the Canterbury Secondary School’s Friday night competition. The competition grew from 24 teams in 1970 to just over 100 teams in 1980.
During the mid-70’s, Grocott became involved with Basketball New Zealand when the office was based in Christchurch. In 1980 he was elected onto the Executive and remained in that role for 10 years.
Grocott was also involved with the National Coaches Association as well as the National Referees Association, which were both located in Christchurch. In the late 90’s Grocott was the Auditor of Basketball New Zealand and is currently the auditor of the New Zealand Basketball Foundation.
In 1993, Grocott was honoured with the Sir Lance Cross Memorial Award. He was made a Life Member of the Canterbury Basketball Association in 1999 as well as the now disestablished Canterbury Officials Association. He was also made a Life Member of Basketball New Zealand in 2007.
