Junior basketball welcomes new coaches
AHEAD of the 2021 Victorian Junior Basketball League season, Thrifty’s Ballarat Miners and Rush Juniors have been appointed their new head coaches.
The director of coaching at Ballarat Basketball Brendan Joyce said he was thrilled to make the announcement ahead of the junior season.
“Our coaches are very experienced and have all coached our Thrifty Ballarat Miners Rush Junior teams in the past,” he said.
“Many coaches moved to other age groups to provide development and added experience in coaching different junior teams.
“These coaches have also been given autonomy to lead their age groups and are encouraged to work together with our other teams to assist with providing strong alignment of teaching our style of play with their age group teams.”
Combining a variety of experience and specialty, the new coaches for the Rush Juniors include Megan Collins and Glenn White for under-12, Rob Cooper for under-14, Lidina Constable for under-16 and Rob Brown will look after under-18.
On the other side of the court, the Miners Juniors new leads include Andrew Renfree for under-12, Chris Thornton for under-14, Joel Anderson for under-16 and Andrew Dunn for under-18.
Prior to the pandemic, Joyce said he was pleased with the results of last year’s season and that it was great to see coaches and players continuing to engage this year via the internet.
“We have used this year as an opportunity to do many Zoom coaching education clinics with our junior coaches and provided further development opportunities for our domestic coaches,” he said.
“However, there is nothing like getting out on the court and helping players improve and coaching your teams.”
The announcement of the head coaches comes in preparation for the try-out process which is set to commence once COVID-19 restrictions allow for it.
Following the junior elite team try-outs, Basketball Ballarat will commence the process of appointing all other coaching positions.