Trevor Gleeson remembers one simple rule from his childhood.
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"The standard rule was you just had to be home before the street lights came on," Gleeson said.
Gleeson grew up on the northern side of the Princes Highway in Morris Road in west Warrnambool.
He has, of course, since gone on to great heights as a professional basketball coach.
While his coaching career continues to soar, Gleeson traces his success to his care-free childhood.
"I loved it, we had so much freedom growing up where and when we did," Gleeson said.
"We were hardly ever home, we'd get on our bikes and head off.
"There were no mobile phones then, we actually didn't even have a house phone until I was about 10 or 11.
"So we'd just go to our mates' houses and knock on the door.
"You'd usually get enough for a game of footy or cricket or basketball, we were always active.
"That's a great base for your life ahead."
Gleeson, with his parents John and Margaret, and his siblings Anthony, Shane, Colin and Anne-Maree, lived across the road from St Pius Primary School.
Gleeson admits to not being the best student but was a very social member of the school.
His year level was an amazingly high performing one when it came to sport.
It contained no fewer than five students who went on to be professional sportsmen.
These included Gleeson himself (basketball), Stephen Anderson (AFL), Wayne Morrissey (AFL), Martin Smith (tennis) and Michael O'Keefe (cricket).
This may have had something to do with the influence of Gleeson's favourite teacher at St Pius, Mick McCrickard.
The moustached McCrickard was a role model for the sports-mad school boys, he was an accomplished wingman for Hampden league club Coragulac.
This was a time, the mid to late 1970s and early 1980s, when life was simple for working class kids like Gleeson.
It was school during the week, footy on a Saturday and then go, go, go in between.
"My best mate was Michael (Tocka) O'Keefe who lived around the corner," Gleeson said.
"I was around at his place or he was at mine all the time.
"We got to become part of each other's family.
"I know his mother was like a second mum to me and I'm sure Tocka would say the same about my mum.
"I was just so lucky to live in such a tight-knit neighbourhood.
"There was Wally White, Steven Atchison, the Williams boys, the Picketts, we all lived just around the corner from each other."
Gleeson, whose basketball achievements as a coach include five NBL championships with Perth Wildcats, an assistant role with the Australian team and also with Toronto Raptors and Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA, said his first lessons on leadership happened close to home.
"Saturday was footy day and we were an Old Collegians family," Gleeson said.
"Davidson Oval was just around the corner so off I'd go for the day.
"I would run the boundary for the reserves and then do the scoreboard for the seniors.
"I'd get a pie and a can of coke for it, I loved it.
"One thing I really enjoyed about the footy was going to the huddles each quarter and listening to the coaches.
"Peter Barker was coaching Old Collegians and he built them from a young team to a successful one.
"I loved listening to the way he motivated his players, Leigh McCluskey was another coach who was also great to listen to.
"Listening to those blokes really did help develop my own coaching when I started, and even now I still draw on those experiences."
Gleeson also credited his mother for lessons well learnt.
She was a life member of the Warrnambool Basketball Association and was responsible for naming the Warrnambool Mermaids.
"My mum was secretary, treasurer, you name it," Gleeson said.
"That was a great example to us kids how important it was to do your bit for the community."
But it wasn't all play for the young Gleeson, with the family owning a fish n' chip at the bottom of Liebig Street during his teenage years. The shop, Gleeson's Fish Shop, was a sponsor of Old Collegians.
Of course fish n' chips shops were an iconic part of working class life in the 70s and 80s and Gleeson had a better look at this than most others.
Not only did he get to work on a Friday night in his family's shop, he also lived just down the road from what many considered the most legendary of all Warrnambool fish n' chip places, Harrys in Morris Road.
Gleeson spoke to The Standard this week from Perth, during the NBA off-season.
He is hoping to head back to the US when the new season starts but no matter what lays ahead, fond memories of a Warrnambool childhood will remain.
