Youth basketball coach Tyler Stringer preyed upon teenage players to have underage sex, court told

A top-level youth basketball coach convicted of teen sex offending has denied he was grooming his four victims, saying he merely let “bawdy boy talk” get out of control.

A top-level youth basketball coach convicted of teen sex offending has denied he was grooming his four victims, saying he merely let “bawdy boy talk” get out of control.

On Wednesday, the District Court heard Tyler Stringer sexually pestered, harassed and propositioned players both during and after the Australian National Championships.

In statements to the court, his victims and their parents – who adopted Stringer as a surrogate son – dubbed him predatory, manipulative and repulsive.

But Jane Powell, for Stringer, asked her client receive a lesser-than-usual non-parole period, saying he was an “immature misfit” whose search for family and friendship went awry.

“In the closeness of (the tournament), there might have been bawdy conversations between the boys that he felt comfortable including himself in,” she said.

Country basketball coach Tyler Stringer, 25, of Port Augusta, was been found guilty of child sexual offences.

“Perhaps that made him feel comfortable taking it to another level.

“He thought of them as brothers, and extended what might be ordinary boyish behaviour to include himself improperly.”

Stringer, 25, of Port Augusta, was found guilty by a jury of three counts of gross indecency and two counts of communicating to make a child amenable to sexual activity.

At the time of his offending, he worked as a team manager for the SA Country Basketball Association.

While alone with the boys, he would show them pornography and sexually proposition them, saying “this is what friends do with one other”.

Stringer persisted in his advances and even exposed himself, despite the boys repeatedly rejecting him.

In their impact statements on Wednesday, one boy said he had been left “angry, uncomfortable and betrayed”.

Another said he had lost his “love, passion and desire” for basketball due to Stringer.

A third boy said it was only after he revealed Stringer’s behaviour to his parents that he realised he was “not being treated as a (teenage) boy should be”.

Their parents expressed not only grief but also shame, blaming themselves for not recognising Stringer’s true intentions sooner.

“None of us saw his predatory, manipulative manner coming … he had a way of covering the truth up and manipulating any situation, which repulses me,” they said.

Ms Powell said Stringer now accepted the jury’s verdict, would not appeal his conviction and was seeking neither a suspended nor a home detention sentence.

She insisted his behaviour toward the parents was not “calculated”.

“He was extremely fond of (the parents), he was drawn to their acceptance of him as a brother to the boys and a son to them,” she said.

“There was a genuine void in his life and he did enjoy the affection of being welcomed into their homes.”

Judge Paul Rice remanded Stringer in custody for sentencing next month.

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