IT seemed a straight forward decision. No-brainer.
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Shannon Seebohm had been headhunted by the Townsville Fire to lead the Women's National Basketball League powerhouse into a new era.
Seebohm made no secret of his ambition when appointed as the Newcaslte director of coaching and head of the Hunters women's program two years ago.
Townsville, where Newcastle and triple Olympian Suzy Batkovic is based, presented the perfect opportunity to return to the top level.
But it wasn't that simple.
In a short time, Shannon, wife Jaimee, who is captain of the women's side, and children Millah and Lucas have became part of the Newcastle basketball fabric.
"You would think that it would be an easy choice to go to a WNBL job," .Jaimee said. "We had to sit down and go over everything because we really love it here. We have been to a lot of basketball stadiums and had a lot of basketball experience growing up. Newcastle is one of the best club associations and has a real community feel. For us, that community feel is really important and we want our kids to grow up around that too, which was why we moved to Newcastle. Millah is at school age ... we had some serious discussions. It was a lot of back and forth."
In the end - after some reassuring talks with members of the Townsville basketball community including Batkovic - the family agreed on the new adventure."
Before departing Newcastle next week, Shannon and Jaimee hope to deliver a farewell gift in the form of a Waratah League women's championship.
Runaway minor premiers, the Hunters meet Hornsby in the semi-final at Terrigal on Saturday.
Victory would set up a final date with either Canberra or Norths at the same venue on Sunday afternoon.
"I'm really excited and a little bit nervous," Jaimee said. "We have had a great season and have a really good team so hopefully we can finish it off.
"I would like to stop playing basketball (competitively) at some point. On a personal and family note, this would be a great way to go out. I'd say it will be the last time Shannon actually coaches me.
"More important is doing it for the team. Everyone is really keen and pumped for the weekend."
The Hunters only lost two games during the regular season, including a 80-63 defeat to Hornsby.
"We had a shocker, but now we have them again, hopefully we can correct it," the point guard said. "We learnt that talent alone will not get it done. We have to have the desire and drive to want it. We can't just show up on the day and go through the motions."
Before suiting up with the Hunters this season, Jaimee hadn't played competitively since the 2014 with the Sydney Flames in the WNBL.
Millah was born in 2015 and she sat out the 2018 Waratah League season for the birth of Lucas.
"When you step away from something, you realise what you miss," the 31-year-old said. "After having the baby, I put on a bit of weight and all those sorts of things. I thought I'm going to get in shape and we are going to have a great season. I am playing some of the best basketball of my career. Having a heap of young people around me has helped. "
Jaimee admitted that having a husband-wife coach-captain dynamic had some "challenging moments".
"It has never been an issue at training or in the game, but there have certainly been some quiet moments in the car rides home," she said. "Shannon is a massive basketball head. He is constant, he is 24-7. He is constantly asking what do I think about this, I want to change the offence, I want o do this."
They try, when possible, to remove themselves from hoops, albeit fleetingly.
"The nature of the job, being a coach demands a lot of time, but we do take time off to play with the kids," Jaimee said. "We are not much of a beach family ... we take Millah to the movies and places like that. During the season, to be honest, it is basketball all the time. Basketball never sleeps."
Newcastle Basketball general manager Neil Goffet praised the input of coach and player.
"We created the position of coaching director to get Shannon here and his contribution has been outstanding," Goffet said. "Obviously with him coming here we inherited a former WNBL player and amazing leader in Jaimee and she has been incredible for the women's program both playing in the senior team and assisting with the coaching of the youth team.
"The association has gathered a lot of momentum in the last few years with our junior numbers through the roof and our development programs bursting at the seams and we want to keep that going.
"It's going to be almost impossible to replace Shannon but we would never stand in the way of a coach, player or official wanting to chase their dreams.
"Hopefully one day soon we will be able to provide that dream for every young girl that plays basketball in this region so they can reach the top right here in the Hunter.
"Getting the new stadium built is the first piece of the puzzle and when we have some more certainty around the time frame of that we will continue discussions with Basketball Australia about their plans to expand the WNBL and hopefully those plans will include us."
That would be music to the ears of the Seebohms.
"That would be pretty cool. We still have our house here. We do have roots here," Jaimee said. "That tells you how much we love Newcastle."