Australian Basketball Coach

Coach Liam Flynn is an Australian Basketball Coach with an extensive local and international basketball coaching resume. His international experience includes working as a NBA Consultant (to the Phoenix Suns in the lead up to the 2016 NBA draft, providing video analysis on potential draftees for the franchise), and has been an advanced scout for the Australian Senior Men’s National Team for the 2016 Rio Olympics.Liam was Head Coach in the German Bunderliga for five years (BBL & 2.BBL with s.Oliver Wuerzburg, Dresden Titans, Walter Tigers Tübingen and Gießen 46ers). He led his team to become ProA Champions, and two play off appearances.Liam was also Head Coach in the New Zealand NZNBL for three years with the Nelson Giants, featuring in two playoff Appearances and one grand final. Liam has six years of Australian NBL Coaching experience, as an Assistant Coach with the Townsville Crocodiles 2010 - 2012 and Adelaide 36ers 2008 – 2010. In his time his teams featured in three playoff appearances.At the state level, Liam has eleven years of State League/ABA Coaching Experience in South Australia (Sturt Sabres) and Queensland (Townsville Heat and Southern Districts Spartans) with eight playoff appearances, and 3 championships.Liam has twelve years coaching experience with Australian Junior State Teams - QLD U/18 Boys, SA Metro U/16 Boys & U/18 Boys; and South Australia U/20 Men. He also has a combined twenty years coaching experience at Junior Representative Level in Queensland and South Australia with Sturt (SA), Southern Districts (QLD) - U/12s through to U/20s.Liam holds a Masters in Sports Coaching (University of Queensland) and a NCAS Level 2 Coaching Accreditation.In this interview, Liam discusses his thoughts on a range of contemporary basketball topics and reflects on his overseas coaching journey and his annual CLF Showcase event.Listeners can follow Liam on Twitter (@coachliamflynn) and also through his website https://www.coachliamflynn.com/

CJ Bruton is Assistant Coach of the Brisbane Bullets in the NBL, where he had a long career with 516 games. CJ played in the last Bullets championship win in 2007, adding another NBL title to a playing resume that also included two titles with the Sydney Kings and three NBL titles with the New Zealand Breakers (6 NBL titles in total). He is one of the most awarded players in NBL history: Grand Final MVP (2012); 2× All-NBL First Team (2006, 2009); All-NBL Second Team (2008); 2× All-NBL Third Team (2004, 2007); NBL Most Improved Player (1999) and the Gaze Medal (2005).CJ first played in the NBL at age 18 with the Perth Wildcats, before taking the opportunity to attend college at Indian Hills (1995-97). He was a second round pick in the 1997 NBA draft, picked 52nd overall selected by the Vancouver Grizzlies. His draft rights were later traded to the Portland Trail Blazers in a draft night trade.CJ played for the Australian Boomers in the mens team from 2006-2008 at both Commonwealth and Olympic games. CJ started his coaching career with the South West Metro Pirates in the Queensland Basketball League (2007), the Brisbane Spartans in SEABL 2015-16, and from 2016, he linked with his former coach at the Breakers and former Boomers Head Coach, Andrej Lemanis, joining the Bullets coaching ranks as they re-entered the NBL competition in 2016/17.CJ is locally involved in basketball in Brisbane, coaching in the 2020 Qld State League (QSL) with the Southern Districts Spartans, and won the title with his open boys high school team (Church of England Grammar School) to the 2020 Champion Basketball Schools of Qld tournament.In this interview, CJ discusses the highlights of his playing career, the challenges college hoops presented, and some of the insights into the Bullets review of the 2019-20 season, and preparations for the upcoming 2021 NBL season. You can follow the Brisbane Bullets on their website https://www.brisbanebullets.com.au/

Jarrod Moore is the Coach Development Manager for Basketball New South Wales (NSW). His role encompasses coach education, organising basketball clinics, player development, as well as maintaining an active social media page on Facebook for basketball coaches.In this interview, we talk about Jarrod's tertiary background, having completed 2 Bachelor degrees (Secondary Education and Human Movement Studies) and also a Masters degree in Sports Coaching, and how he uses that knowledge in his approach to coaching and educating other coaches.Jarrod started his basketball journey at Newington College as a high school coach, and then moved into a Community coach role with Norths Bears in Sydney. Jarrod became the basketball Participation Officer at Penrith & Districts Basketball Association, a hands-on role where he ran basketball events, coaching kids from the age of 3-21, ranging from a skill level of beginner to elite and scouting and recruiting for potential future players in the sport. Prior to his current role, Jarrod was also the Basketball Development Officer at Werribee Basketball Association in Victoria, where he connected with many well know coaches in Australia.Jarrod explains his own coaching philosophy, highlighting the many positives of productive mentoring relationships and the challenges in delivering coach education in times of online meetings and videoconferences. To learn more about activities conducted by Basketball NSW, get in touch with Jarrod at jarrod.moore@bnsw.com.au or visit https://www.bnsw.com.au/

David Herbert is a former WNBL Head Coach and is currently Head Coach of the Australian Gems Under 19 womens team. David currently works with the Basketball Victoria high performance network and is Director of Pathways and Development at Basketball Geelong, and has held key development roles in Queensland and Western Australia.Growing up in country Victoria, Dave moved into coaching in his late teens and was the first Head Coach of the Townsville Fire WNBL team from 2001 to 2007. Dave was the Head Coach of the West Coast Waves women's team in Perth (2010-11) and then Assistant Coach with Head Coach Carrie Graf at the Canberra Capitals (2012-13). Dave was CEO of Cairns Basketball from 2013-14 and moved back to Geelong from 2016 as Head Coach of the SEABL Geelong Lady Supercats.In this interview, we discuss some of Dave's coaching philosophies and learnings he has had being involved with Australian youth teams at FIBA Asia-Pacific and World Cup events and WNBL teams. Dave has a great Facebook coaches group (Herbie's Coaches Network) and is will be coaching the Gems in the next U19 World Championships.

Rob Coulter is the Coach Development Officer for Basketball Victoria (BV) and is host of BV's "Talking Split" podcast which has been running since 2017. Check out the Talking Split podcast at: https://audioboom.com/channels/4933327Rob has a lengthy career in basketball coaching including several years as Assistant Coach and Head Coach for Victoria Metro U18 boys (2013), Under 16 boys (2014 and 2015). Rob was Director of Coaching at Eltham Basketball from 2012-14 and also coached in Diamond Valley Basketball's senior basketball programs.In this interview, we talk about Rob's previous career with the Victorian Police, the Talking Split podcast and it's evolution over time, and the Victorian state team programs, coaching network and rep team processes for players and coaches.For more information on Basketball Victoria's coaching programs, check out their website at: http://basketballvictoria.com.au/coaching/

Steve Edwards is Director of Coaching and Head Coach of the South West Metro NBL1 North women's team at South West Metro Basketball Association in Brisbane, Queensland. Steve grew up in Philadelphia PA and began his working career with the US Air Force stationed initially in Korea then Japan, and travelled extensively during his service conducting several tours of duty and special operations assignments, and achieving the rank of Sergeant during his tenure.Steve came to Australia in the late 1990's and was first associated with Club and rep programs in Sydney, and more recently in Brisbane, with both the Southern Districts Spartans and South West Metro Pirates. Steve has been a state level Head Coach and Assistant Coach and has his teams have won silver medals across U14 & U16 age groups. Steve has also been Assistant coach in two SEABL Championships in 2009 and 2014 with the Spartans women's team and in this interview, acknowledges the influence of coaching mentors such as Donna Rinaldi, Joey Wright, Leonard King and Brendan Joyce.In this interview, we discuss the journey that led Steve to be in Brisbane as Coaching Director, his coaching philosophy and his non-negotiables as a coach. You can follow the progress of Steve's NBL1 North team through South West Metro's website :https://www.piratesbasketball.net.au/

David Patrick is Head Coach of the Division 1 NCAA UC Riverside Highlanders mens basketball team in California, USA. David was born in Bermuda and moved to Australia aged 10 and has a basketball background in Australia, having played with the Melbourne Tigers, and also Victorian Metro State teams and Australian youth national teams.David arrived in USA in 1994 enrolling at Chapel Trafton High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he was district MVP and First Team All-Parish, while also being selected to play in the Louisiana State High School All-Star Game.David's college playing career started with Syracuse under Head Coach Jim Boeheim for one season where he was part of the Orange's 1996 NCAA Tournament Final Four team, who lost to Kentucky 67-76. David transferred to play his remaining three years of eligibility at Southwestern Louisiana (later Louisiana–Lafayette).David then played with the Canberra Cannons in the NBL in 2000-01 was was named Rookie of the Year. In 2001-03 he ventured to England playing with the Chester Jets and earnt second team all-league honours. He then went on to Spain in 2003-05 Spain with Castellion, before injuries brought his playing career to an end.David began his coaching career in 2005–2006 with Nicholls State as Assistant Coach to Head Coach JP Piper, his Trafton high school coach. From 2006–2010, he was Assistant Coach at St. Mary's (Moraga CA) with Head Coach Randy Bennett and helped recruit Boomers stars Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova. St Marys featured in NCAA tournament appearances in 2008 (1st round loss to Miami) and 2010 (Sweet Sixteen loss to Baylor) during his tenure. David then worked as a Personnel scout with Houston Rockets, and soon after from 2012–2016 became Assistant Coach at LSU for Head Coach Johnny Jones, recruiting his godson Ben Simmons, who later went on to become 2016 overall number one NBA draft pick. From 2016–2018, David was Assistant Coach at TCU (Texas Christian University Fort Worth) for Head Coach Jamie Dixon, and during that time won the 2017 NIT against Georgia Tech (season stats of 24-15).In 2018, David was recruited to Head Coach of UC Riverside Highlanders and in the 2019/20 season had won 17 games, setting the school record for the most games won most in school history. Also in 2019, David became Assistant Coach on the coaching staff for Head Coach Andrej Lemanis for the Australian Boomers, for the FIBA World Cup and preparations for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic campaign.In this interview, we talk about David's playing and coaching journey, his involvement with the Boomers and his strong Aussie connections, and the relationships he has built with others through basketball.You can follow David's team at: https://gohighlanders.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster

Damien Anderson is an Australian Basketball Coach living in Louisville Kentucky and is Head Coach at DeSales High School.Damien is originally from Brisbane, Queensland and had a lengthy basketball career playing in the NBL (Brisbane Bullets), South Eastern Australian Basketball League (SEABL) and Queensland Basketball League (QBL), with the Southern Districts Spartans (Brisbane) and Mount Gambier Pioneers. Damien was co-captain of the Pioneers team which won the 2003 ABA National Championship with Damien being named in the SEABL All-Star starting five that year. Damien set all sorts of records in the early 90's when he had a 75 point game shooting 20/33 from the 3 point line, which at that time was the highest points scored in a professional game in Australia by an Australian player, and remains the 5th highest points scored in a game at that level. Check out the highlight clips at https://youtu.be/jv1SrsAnDbsDamien took on a graduate assistant coaching role in 2007 with Division 1 college University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, where he stayed for 3 years before moving to Louisville KY to take up the role of Assistant Coach at St. Xavier High School with Head coach Kevin Klein. Damien then took on a role in 2013 at Bellarmine University in Louisville with Head Coach Scott Davenport during a period where Bellarmine achieved a 77-19 record and appeared in three consecutive NCAA D-II tournaments.Damien moved on from Bellarmine after the birth of his daughter and then coached again in the 2017-18 season at Aspire Basketball Academy as Associate Head Coach, and then was appointed in 2018 to his current role as Head Coach at DeSales High School.In this interview, we talk about Damien's playing days, his introduction to college basketball as a coach, and his thoughts on developing a new basketball program.

Jeremy Kendle is a professional basketball player based in Brisbane, Australia, having played in 3 seasons in the NBL, 1 with the Sydney Kings and 2 with the Brisbane Bullets. Jeremy attended Bellarmine University (D2) in Louisville, Kentucky and was an integral part of the 2010-11 NCAA Division 2 Championship team under Head Coach Scott Davenport, and in that season, he was named GLVC Player of the Year, 1st team All-American, and a member of the D2 all-tournament team.Jeremy played professionally in Switzerland and Morocco before coming to Australia in 2015 with the Toowoomba Mountaineers to play in the Queensland Basketball League (QBL). Jeremy helped the team reach the semi finals and won the MVP Award and highest points scoring awards for the League that year, averaging 30.2 points, 7.3 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 1.9 steals per game.Jeremy then went on to play for the Bendigo Braves in the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL). The Braves finished first on the ladder with a 21–3 record, while Jeremy earned the league’s scoring title with an average of 27.7 points per game and was named MVP of the league. He was fortunate enough to go on to win a championship with the Braves, the club's first championship since 2005. He scored 34 points in the SEABL national grand final and was awarded the Hugh McMenamin Medal.Jeremy then went on to a season with the Canterbury Rams in the NZBL, and appeared in all 19 games for the Rams in 2017, averaging 20.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 1.2 steals per game and was named Import Player of the Year and 1st team All NZNBL. After the NZNBL season, JK was picked for an NBL All-Australian team that travelled to China to play the Chinese national team in a three-game series. In an 89-75 win in Game 3, Jeremy scored a game-high 20 points.He finished the 2017 QBL season with the Southwest Metro Pirates under Head Coach Mick Downer. His next contract had him back in the NBL but this time he was playing for the Sydney Kings. This was an injury replacement gig, eventually replaced by Jerome Randle who was the league's MVP the previous season for the Adelaide 36er’s.His next move was back to Bendigo where he knew he could have a big impact on and off the court. He appeared in all 22 games for the Braves in 2018, averaging 23.1 points, 5.5 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game. Despite having a successful season as a player, he was more proud of the impact he was able to have off the court as a trainer. Jeremy moved back to Brisbane and immediately began training players and being involved in the basketball community in as many ways as he could. For about 3 months he was building his resume as a trainer as well as training full time with the Brisbane Bullets as a player. Bullets head coach Andrej Lemanis and his staff were generous enough to allow Jeremy to help out at training even though he was not contracted with the club. Their consideration of his situation led to him being able to stay in shape which ultimately led to him signing with the club on December 5th 2018 because a spot opened up on the roster. He was fortunate enough to help the club making the playoffs for the first time since they were reinstated in the league in 2016.Jeremy was appointed as Head Coach/Player Captain with the South West Metro Pirates for the 2020 NBL1 North season, which was cut short in the pre-season due to the COVID19 situation. In this interview, we talk about his college career, professional career and the impact of the current pandemic on players and how Jeremy uses his faith and discipline to stay focused.You can contact Jeremy (or JK as he is known locally) through his website: https://www.jeremykendlebasketball.com/

Karina Aguis is in her first season as Head Coach of the Toowoomba Mountaineers NBL1 North women's team. Karina previously coached the Mountaineers SBL women and also coached at North Gold Coast Seahawks at the junior level. Karina had a playing career in Victoria at Sunbury then Bulleen and was a Vic Metro junior rep player, and played under Head Coach Ray Tomlinson. In this interview, we discuss her basketball journey and the areas she is focusing on in recruiting players and player development leading into the 2020 NBL1 North season. Note: due to mobile phone signal issues, some sections of the interview dropped out hence listeners may hear sections of static.Footnote: this interview was recorded on 15 March 2020, 2 weeks prior to the cancellation of the 2020 NBL1 North season.

Darren Browne is a Sunshine Coast local who will be in his first year as Head Coach of the Sunshine Coast Phoenix NBL1 North womens team. Darren played State League with both Brisbane and Maroochydore in his younger days and has been an active junior representative basketball coach on the Sunshine Coast for several years.In this interview, we talk about building a team roster as a new coach, the challenges of finding the right import players to complement local players, and the work Darren has done on the Caloundra Basketball Association and Maroochydore Basketball Association committees in gaining support and funding for expanded basketball/sports facilities on the Sunshine Coast at Caloundra and Maroochydore. Footnote: this interview was recorded on 15 March 2020, two weeks before the cancellation of the NBL1 North 2020 season.

Cassie Dover was the 2019 QBL Coach of the Year, coaching in her first QBL season for the Gold Coast Rollers womens team. The team made the finals playing through some tough opponents but going down to a talented Southern Districts team. Cassie grew up on the Gold Coast, and represented Queensland in her junior playing days, and toured in 2004 with the Qld Academy of Sport team, and was a member of the gold medal winning 2006 Qld Under 20 womens team at the National titles. Casiie started her WNBL career with the Dandenong Rangers in 2008/09, and was a development player under Head Coach Dale Waters. She was a member of the Townsville Flames QBL championship team that won the QBL and went on to win the ABA National title in 2007 and 2008. She played for the Townsville Fire in the WNBL in 2009/10 under Head Coach Peter Buckle, with that team losing in the semi-fnal that year against Canberra.In this interview, Cassie talks about her playing career in the WNBL, her approach to coaching and the many elements that helped the team make it into the 2019 Grand Finals series. Cassie is an active junior coach on the Gold Coast, and talks about her approach to coaching juniors and the emphasis on competing and putting in their best effort. You can follow Cassie's team through the Gold Coast Basketball Association website: https://goldcoastbasketball.com.au/Footnote: This interview was recorded 15/03/2020, two weeks prior to the cancellation of the 2020 NBL1 North season, due to COVID-19.

Aja Parham-Ammar is in her first season in 2020 as Head Coach of the Southern Districts Womens NBL1 North team, following a very successful playing career. Aja is hoping to take the team she was most recently played in to a 4-peat, with the Spartans women's team winning the title 3 years in a row from 2017, 2018 and 2019.Aja is from New York and played her college career at Division 1 team Boston College, being co-captain in her last 2 seasons. and played in some of the big-game experience including beating UConn to win the Big East Championship. Her professional career has taken her to several European leagues, including playing in Germany, Portugal, Spain, Australia and France. Aja debuted in the WNBA in 2008 with the Seattle Storm (with Australian legend Lauren Jackson) and since being in Australia, played WNBL with the SEQ Stars under Head Coach Shane Heal.While playing, Aja founded and is the lead trainer for SportsMindset, a fitness and training company based in Australia. SportsMindset takes a completely-rounded approach to developing its athletes. It targets both a combination of mental and physical aspects to maximize potential. It involves physical fitness, but it goes beyond that to assist athletes with awareness and confidence. It's an evolution and revolution formed from her personal experiences. Aja worked with the Brisbane Bullets during the 18/19 and 19/20 seasons in the strength and conditioning/high performance areas.In this interview, we recap Aja's stellar playing career from NCAA Division 1, to playing in Europe, the WNBA, and the WNBL and QBL in Australia. In her QBL career from 2017, she averaged 14ppg and 5 assists per game, and we talked about how she plans to bring her competitive approach from playing across to coaching. Aja talks about the work her business SportsMindset does and the work she does with her athletes. You can get in touch with Aja through SportsMindset at https://www.sportsmindset.com.au/ or by email info@sportsmindset.com.au You can follow Aja via the Southern Districts Basketball website at: https://sdbal.com.au/Footnote: This interview was recorded on 15/3/2020, a few weeks before the NBL1 North season was cancelled.

Jamie O'Loughlin is in his third season as Head Coach of the Cairns Marlins NBL1 North mens team in 2020, and is also Assistant Coach of the Cairns Taipans NBL team. The Taipans just finished off their 19/20 season, going down 2-1 in the semi-finals to eventual NBL champions, the Perth Wildcats.Jamie coached junior basketball in his first 10 years of coaching in Geelong and in Victorian junior rep teams, before transitioning over as Assistant Coach with the senior mens program with the Geelong Supercats in the 2006 SEABL team that also won the National title (ABA). Jamie became Head Coach of the Supercats and won the SEABL title again in 2010, winning 3 SEABL championships in his time with the Supercats.Between 2006 to 2014, Jamie had a great deal of involvement with Australian youth teams including the Australian Junior Mens team as Assistant Coach (U16 and U17 teams with 2 x silver medals and 1 x gold), the Australian Youth Olympics team in 2008 (Champions), FIBA Oceania Champions in 2011, and also working as an Australian U17 Team Camp coach from 2009-2011.Jamie moved into the NBL in 2014 as Perth Wildcats Assistant Coach under Head Coach Trevor Gleeson, with the Wildcats winning 2 NBL titles in 2015-16 and 2016-17. Jamie was involved as Assistant Coach with the 2017–2019 Emerging Boomers, and attended the Summer Universiade with Head Coach Rob Beveridge where the team won the bronze medal. Since 2017 to the present, Jamie has been Assistant Coach of the Cairns Taipans, initially under Head Coach Aaron Fearne and now working with 2019-20 NBL Coach of the Year Head Coach Mike Kelly.In this interview, we talk about the strong connection and player development opportunities that the Cairns Marlins and Cairns Taipans players have, the 19-20 NBL season and the semi-finals series, and the outlook for Cairns in the NBL1 North 2020 season and the style of play Jamie hoped to adopt. You can follow the Cairns Taipans at their website: https://www.taipans.com/ and the Cairns Marlins website (Cairns Basketball) at: http://www.cairnsbasketball.com/Footnote: This interview was recorded on 13/3/2020, a few weeks before the NBL1 North season was cancelled.

Luke Cann is the State Performance Manager at Basketball Queensland (BQ) and also was the Regional Services Manager prior to his current appointment. Luke is in his third year as Head Coach of the Logan Thunder NBL1 men's team, after making the quarter-finals in 2019. Luke has held many junior representative coaching roles, notably taking the Qld South team to silver at the Australian National Championships in 2018. Luke has been involved in basketball all his life and talks in this interview about the role models he has had including his parents, experienced coaches such as current Canberra Capitals WNBL championship winning coach Paul Gorris, Bruce Palmer and others. Luke has performed various basketball roles including as an administrator (with Logan Basketball as Basketball Operations Manager); player through the Queensland state pathways and now as lead Coach at the junior representative and QBL/NBL1 level. As the State Performance Manager, Luke has oversight over all BQ state and emerging teams and high performance programs and gives an in-depth view of the 3 key elements needed by Queensland high performance athletes to succeed as State team players. We talk about the various online resources now available to athletes and coaches and the importance of talking about mental health and ensuring players, coaches and the community are coping in challenging times. Luke can be contacted through Basketball Queensland at their website https://basketballqld.com.au/

Brad George is in his 10th year in 2020 as Head Coach of the Ipswich Force NBL1 North women's team, notably coaching his team to the post season in every year of those previous seasons. Brad has also previously been Assistant Coach of the 2015 SEQ Stars WNBL team with Head Coach Shane Heal, and has been an Under 20 Queensland team Head Coach.In this interview, Brad talks about his basketball career and coaching journey, his approach to recruiting, and the importance of leadership within the playing group. Brad also discusses the approach used for youth players coming through the junior pathway from junior basketball into QSL (formerly the SBL) and then NBL1.You can follow Brad's team through the Ipswich Basketball Association website https://ipswichbasketball.com.au/?fbclid=IwAR1BXzlg9TsGCSv6jA6_ddCTtqnKNgBzjj7tzSwo4us2cR56K-zGSaqRiLU

Ben Greany enters his first year in 2020 as Head Coach of the CQ University Rockhampton Cyclones NBL1 North womens team, after serving as Assistant Coach for the past 2 seasons under Head Coach Chris Muggeridge. Ben has been heavily involved with Rockhampton's junior girl’s representative teams over the past 5 years, and is also a lead coach at their Under 15 and Under 23 Academies, which were recently created.In this interview, Ben talks about taking over the coaching role following a successful period for the Cyclones, having won the QBL state championship titles in 2015 & 2016. Ben is working with strength and conditioning staff from the Central Qld University and is using that data to track player performance in the pre-season with a view to using it to maximise player contributions during the season. Ben talks about some of the Cyclones recruiting to date, and the culture he will be creating with the team and the experienced players in the group and the way the team can show leadership during the season.Listeners can follow the CQ University Rockhampton Cyclones on Rockhampton Basketball's website: https://rockhampton.basketballqld.com.au/

Brayden Heslehurst is Head Coach of the Logan Thunder womens NBL1 North team, coming into his second season in 2020 with this group after reaching the quarter finals in 2019. Brayden coached the QBL mens team at the Sunshine Coast Phoenix from 2017-18 and was Coaching Director or the Sunshine Coast Basketball Association at Maroochydore.Brayden grew up around basketball and was involved in his youth with the Southern Districts Association in Brisbane, as a player in the SEABL team then later as an Assistant Coach with Head Coach CJ Bruton in 2015 and 2016. He successfully coached the Southern Districts Spartans mens SBL team to a championship in 2015.Brayden is a well known sports journalist, and provides great insight in this interview into the branding of the league into NBL1 North, and provides his thoughts on building the culture in his team and the importance of good leadership within the playing group. You can follow Brayden's team through the Logan Basketball Association website at: https://www.loganbasketball.com/

Vern Robateau is in his second season in 2020 in the NBL1 North competition as Head Coach of the Sunshine Coast Phoenix, located at Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.Vern was All-State basketball player at Chugiak High School (Alaska) in 1984 and a four-year standout at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He is the UAA all-time leader in games played (124) and games won (90). Vern went to college at the University of Alaska-Anchorage, and then went on to a 7 year career as a professional basketball player in Germany, Belgium, Malaysia, New Zealand and Australia. Vern played with the Club he is now coaching during his playing career in 1995.Vern was a Player Development Coach with the Brisbane Bullets under Head Coach Joey Wright in the mid 2000's, was Assistant Coach with the Suncoast Clippers who won the ABA Championship in 2006, and also in 2008 was an Assistant Coach with the Newberry Wolves Division 2 womens team in South Carolina before deciding to come back to the beaches of the Sunshine Coast.In this interview, Vern talks about his early basketball career, his trip to the final four as a college player, his coaching and team goals for 2020 and the way in which he is bringing back local Sunshine Coast players to lead the Club on the floor this year. You can follow Vern's team through the Sunshine Coast Phoenix web page at: https://websites.sportstg.com/assoc_page.cgi?client=0-10741-0-510226-0

Neal Tweedy is Head Coach of the Rockhampton Rockets NBL1 North mens team and enters his 22nd season leading the Rockets in 2020. Neal has coached the Rockets to 7 straight finals appearances between 2008 and 2014, winning 4 QBL Championships during this time (2008, 2010, 2013 and 2014). Neal coached the Rockets team that won the last National Club Championship in 2008, defeating southern teams such as Sandringham, Frankston and Hobart along the way.Neal talks about his early coaching influences as a young Rockets player, including Don Shephard, Dave Claxton, and current Melbourne United Head Coach Dean Vickerman, and the different aspects of the game that he picked up from playing for and working with those coaches. Neal is considered one of the league's best recruiters, and talks about his recruitment process, and the challenge of finding the right "fit" for import players who will be based in a small town and will experience a huge travel schedule throughout the season. Neal gives some great insights into the recruitment of Australian born players, and his thoughts on the draw going into the 2020 NBL1 North season. You can follow Neal's team through the Rockhampton Rockets website at: https://rockhampton.basketballqld.com.au/

Luke Brennan is in his second year as Head Coach of the Townsville Flames in the 2020 NBL1 North season. Luke has previously been Assistant Coach with the the Townsville Fire in the WNBL with Head Coaches Claudia Brassard (2019) and Shannon Seebohm (2020). Luke had a lengthy playing career, playing in the NBL under Coach Brian Goorjian with the Sydney Kings in a Championship year, and also played with Coach Rob Beveridge at the Norths Bears in Sydney. Luke also played in the NSW Waratah League before heading to Townsville and playing with the Townsville Heat from 2015 and winning the state titles in 2017 & 2018 under Head Coach Rod Anderson. Luke talks about the balance of coaching elite teams as well as his role as a teacher and in this interview we talk about the parallels between teaching and coaching, the influences on his coaching style and the experienced players he has recruited to the 2020 Townsville Fire line-up. Luke is keen to bring through several of Townsville's state championship winning Under 18 players into the state league playing group and also talks about the learnings of being involved with the Townsville Fire WNBL program.You can follow Luke's team through the Townsville Basketball website https://websites.sportstg.com/assoc_page.cgi?client=1-4762-0-0-0

Joel Khalu is back in 2020 as Head Coach of the Mackay Meteors Mens NBL1 North team, a role he last had in 2015 when his team won the QBL state title. Joel is originally from Cairns, playing with the Cairns Marlins i his younger days before moving into coaching and administrative roles. Joel was Operations Manager of the Cairns Taipans from 2009-10 before moving to Mackay to be Assistant Coach in 2011, and then moving into the Head Coach role from 2013-2015. Joel has been involved in 3 QBL titles and is looking forward to implementing a winning culture across the NBL1 North Mackay teams in 2020.Joel was Basketball Papua New Guinea (PNG) Chief Executive Officer from 2016-17 and was the Head Coach of the PNG mens team from 2013-2019. Joel was also the Australian Indigenous Basketball Chief Executive Officer from 2017-2019 and was the Head Coach of the Australian Indigenous Mens National Basketball team from 2014-2019. Joel has also been involved in the Qld state team programs, being Head Coach of the Under 20 mens team from 2012-2014.In this interview we talk about Joel's experiences in taking the Mackay mens team to multiple QBL championships, his experiences as Head Coach of the PNG mens team at FIBA Asia-Pacific tournaments, and the way Mackay Basketball engages with the local community to promote basketball. You can follow Joel's team in the NBL1 North season through the Mackay Basketball Association website at https://websites.sportstg.com/assoc_page.cgi?c=1-4812-0-0-0&sID=84224 or the NBL1 website at https://nbl1.com.au/

Shane and Jenny Froling are both experienced basketball players and coaches, and in this interview we had a chat about their basketball careers, the coaches that influenced them in their junior representative and NBL/WNBL playing careers and the careers their children (Alicia, Keely, Harrison and Samson) are now having in the WNBL and NBL.Shane Froling was a Victorian junior rep player, being introduced to basketball at a young age, and attended the AIS (1985-86) and played and coached 20 seasons in the NBL and Australian basketball scene being coached by world champion and Olympic level coaches such as Barry Barnes, Brian Goorjian, Tom Maher, Ian Stacker, Patrick Hunt, Dr Adrian Hurley and Phil Smyth. Shane played in the NBL with the Eastside Melbourne Spectres, Hobart Devils, Brisbane Bullets and finished up his playing career with the Townsville Suns before switching into an Assistant Coaching role under Head Coach Mark Bragg. Shane was Assistant Coach with the Townsville Crocodiles from 1997-2006, and was also highly influential in basketball development in North Queensland as Queensland Academy of Sport Head Coach. Shane has also been involved in Queensland junior representative teams as Head Coach and Assistant Coach, as well as being the Australian Emu's Development Coach from 2006-2010. Shane was involved with the Indonesian National Mens Team from 2011-12 and is Coaching Director at the DBL camp held annually. Shane was named Queensland Male Coach of the Year in 2009-2010.Jenny Froling (nee Lind) grew up in Collinsville and was also a junior representative player, and played at the Queensland level under legendary coach Norma Connolly. Jenny started her WNBL career with the Brisbane Lady Bullets after moving to Brisbane in 1983. Jenny was awarded a scholarship at the AIS (1985-86) where she met Shane. Jenny then moved to Melbourne, with the goal of going to join Geelong but she then joined the WNBL Nunawading Spectres under Head Coach Tom Maher. Jenny won 2 WNBL championships as a player and then 1 as team manager. Jenny and Shane moved to Hobart where she played with the Hobart WNBL team and won her 4th WNBL Championship. Jenny then became Assistant Coach for the Hobart Quit Islanders in 1991. Jenny and Shane moved to Brisbane while Shane played with the Bullets, and then after having her 4 children, Jenny decided to join the ranks of referees in the local Townsville competition. Jenny quickly became a QBL, WNBL and NBL rostered referee over the next few years. In the history of the WNBL Jenny is the only representative to have played, managed, coached, refereed and mothered WNBL champions at the WNBL level and she was recently awarded WNBL Life Membership in February 2020.

Mick Downer became Head Coach of the Canterbury Rams in the New Zealand National Basketball League from March 2019, taking his team to the post season and being named 2019 Coach of the Year. Mick is now in his second season as Head Coach and recently brought a youth development team (Mainland Eagles Basketball Academy) to Australia in January 2020 on a playing/pre-season tour.Mick was previously Assistant Coach and High Performance and Development Manager with the Brisbane Bullets in the NBL from 2016 to 2019. Mick was also Technical Assistant Coach with the Australian Boomers mens team from 2013 to 2016 and went to the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio with Head Coach Andrej Lemanis. Mick was also Assistant Coach with the Australian University Men’s Team in 2015 at South Korea, and was Assistant Coach at the Cairns Taipans with Head Coach Aaron Fearne, as well as being Assistant Coach with the Perth Wildcats.Mick is qualified as a Master Coach (Basketball Australia Coaching Accreditation Program) and is a FIBA Licensed International Basketball Coach. He has worked as Coach Development Manager at Basketball Queensland from 2015-16.In this interview, Mick discusses his introduction to basketball In Logan in Southern Brisbane, and the influences on his basketball career to date. Mick talks about the incredible experiences and opportunities he has had through his involvement with the Boomers, and his experiences with Perth, Cairns and Brisbane in the NBL, and the season ahead with his new team, the Canterbury Rams. Mick takes us through his defensive style of play as recently published in ADB Basketball's January 2020 edition http://www.flippubs.com/publication/?i=648796&fbclid=IwAR3j7QOSVZlIxQGKh5aDErkddsY1ygaXZh1D0Nm2MWJvkhmk5AmNDK6J2IM and he discusses the evolution of the "tagging up" defensive transition strategy developed in Cairns. To follow Mick and the Canterbury Rams in 2020, check out their Club website at: https://canterburyrams.basketball/

Mick Conlon is Head Coach of the Gold Coast Rollers, runners-up in the 2019 QBL Grand Finals, and will be coaching the Rollers into the 2020 NBL1 North season. Mick has had a variety of coaching roles including 3 years as Assistant Coach with the Gold Coast Blaze in the NBL from 2009/10 to 2011/12 with Head Coach Joey Wright. Mick has been involved in SEABL as Assistant Coach with the Southern Districts Spartans, and was QBL Coach of the Year in 2011 with the Rollers. Mick was Head Coach for the Ipswich Force in the QBL from 2015-17, and overall is coming up to his 15th year in the state league. Mick was Head Coach (2016) and Assistant Coach (2006-08) for the Qld Under 20 mens team competing at the Australian National Championships.In this interview, we talk all things pre-season in terms of recruiting, player selection, goal setting and getting the team ready through off court and on court sessions. Mick provides some great insight into developing leadership within the sports and business environments and the significance of the NBL1 branding to the league and the opportunity to perhaps one day seek bragging rights for the best Club team in Australia. Follow Mick's team through Gold Coast Basketball Association's web page https://goldcoastbasketball.com.au/ and the NBL1 website https://nbl1.com.au/

Bruce Palmer is amongst one of the most influential coaches in Australia over the past 40 years. Bruce was a graduate of the University of the Pacific in California and began his NBL career playing with the Melbourne Tigers under Head Coach Lindsay Gaze in 1977, and competed in the first year of the Australian NBL in 1979. Bruce was Player/Coach of the Coburg Giants in 1982 before injury forced him into early playing retirement at age 27. Bruce was the Head Coach of the North Melbourne Giants from 1987-92, winning the NBL Championship in 1989. Bruce was awarded NBL Coach of the year on 5 occasions (1986, 1988, 2004, 2005 and 2009), and has also worked with Australian National teams and youth teams.Bruce was Head Coach of the Brisbane Bullets from 1992-95, then was Assistant Coach from 1998-99. He coached in Japan with the Toyota Team from 1999-2000 and again with Tochigi Brex from 2010-12, and also had stints in the SEABL as Head Coach with the Hunter Pirates (2003) and Southern Districts Spartans (2005). Bruce was CEO of the Springboard organisation, working with traumatised children for residential out of home care for the period 2004-2009.Bruce took up the role of Technical Director with the CBA Dongguan Basketball School (An NBA Training School) in 2012 until recently and now lives in Brisbane, coaching youth teams with Brisbane Basketball and has a golf handicap of 17. In this interview, Bruce talks about the long family connection with the Goorgjian family, his NBL playing days, and the move into NBL coaching and the challenges and successes of that era. His experiences in China and Japan are fascinating and he passes on some great quotes, coaching philosophy and learnings throughout this podcast.

David Ingham is the Director of Basketball Operations at Knox Basketball Inc. in Victoria, Australia, and is a former NBL Head Coach, Assistant Coach and Australian National Team Under 17 Assistant Coach. David began his playing career in South Australia and represented SA Metro in juniors at National Championships, attended the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra in 1984 and represented Australia in the Under 20 age group.David was in the Adelaide 36ers squad in his early playing days, took on the Head Coach and Captain of the Cairns Marlins in the QBL in 1991, and played for the Brisbane Bullets in the NBL before moving into coaching with the Gold Coast Rollers as Assistant Coach to Head Coach David Claxton in 1992. He then went on to be Assistant Coach with the Brisbane Bullets from 1992-95 (with Head Coaches Brian Kerle and Bruce Palmer), and then became the youngest NBL Head Coach in history with the Bullets from 1996 to 1997.From 2000 to 2003, David was SEABL Head Coach Mildura Mavericks, then went to Perth to be Assistant Coach with the Perth Wildcats from 2003-2006. David then embarked on some overseas experiences, coaching in Qatar with CLub Al Arabi as Head Coach from 2006 to 2009, then to China as Consultant Coach with Heilongjiang Basketball Team from 2009-12, then Head Coach of Jiangxi Xin Dragons Basketball Club in the Chinese NBL.On his return to Australia, David went back to Adelaide and from 2013 to 2019 was the State High Performance Manager for Basketball South Australia, directly managing over 100 staff including administrators & coaches, and overseeing the development of 400 High Performance players and grassroots players throughout South Australia. He also became the Assistant Coach Australian Mens Under 17 team from 2015-2018. In this interview, we talk about David's extensive basketball experience as player, coach and Administrator, the experiences working overseas and the role of an Assistant Coach within a National youth team. David highlights the areas of focus for Knox Basketball in coaching development and teaching the players to play the right way. To get in touch with David, contact him at Knox Basketball Inc via email david.ingham@knoxbasketball.com.auor visit the website https://www.knoxbasketball.com.au/

Norma Connolly OAM is one of Australia's most experienced coaches and has led countless teams to State and National Junior Age Championships as a head coach. Norma was head coach of the Queensland Under 16 and Under 18 women’s teams for over 20 years and was Head Coach of the National Junior Development Program for North Queensland in the early 1990’s as well as the Head Coach at the Queensland Academy of Sport.Norma was the Team Manager of the Australian Gems Under 19 women’s team at the 1993 (Korea), 1997 (Brazil), and 2001 (Czech Republic) World Championships, winning one Gold and one Silver Medal. She was founding Head Coach of the Townsville State High School basketball program. She is a life member of Mackay Basketball and continues to have the Under-16 women’s National Junior Championship trophy named in her honour. Norma was named the National Women’s Coach of the Year in 1998 and was awarded the Australian Sports Medal in 2000.Norma is a Life Member of Mackay Basketball Association and the show court is known as the Connolly Court in her honour. Norma received the Basketball Australia Merit Award in 2003, and was inducted into the Basketball Australia Hall of Fame in 2007. Her lifelong dedication to basketball was recognised with the Medal of the Order of Australia on 26th of January, 2012 for "service to the sport of basketball through administrative and coaching roles".In this podcast, we have a chat about Norma's joy of coaching, and her ongoing association with basketball (in her 60+ years) as a coach, manager and administrator. Norma is currently coaching junior girls teams with Townsville Basketball and talks about her passion for learning and focusing on fundamentals and encouraging junior players to be the best players they can be.

Alan Stein Jr is a speaker, coach and author with expertise in improving organizational performance, cohesion and accountability. Alan spent 15 years working with the highest performing basketball players on the planet (like 2-time NBA Finals MVP Kevin Durant) and now teaches companies how to utilise the same strategies in business that elite athletes use to perform at a world-class level.Alan is a dynamic storyteller and provides some great practical take-aways in this podcast in the areas of creating accountability and culture, encouraging players to be creative and make mistakes, and for coaches to be at their best so they can be the best coach they can be.Alan served as the Head Performance Coach for DeMatha Catholic High School's basketball program in Washington DC for 6 years, working with Head Coach Morgan Wootten, one of the top coaches in the 20th century with a winning percentage of 0.869% 1274 career wins/192 losses over a 46 year period. Alan also worked with Coach Wootten's successor, Coach Mike Jones who, in 16 years, has amassed 435 wins and seven WCAC Championships.Alan talks about the experiences of working with elite high school, college and NBA players through his involvement with the Nike Skills Academies, McDonald's All-American game, Jordan Brand Classic, NBA Players Association Top 100 Camp and the CP3 Elite Guard Camp. He also talks about his time as host of the Pure Sweat Basketball Show and his work with NBA Skills Coach & Consultant, Drew Hanlen.Alan talks in this podcast about his book "Raise Your Game" and also his very successful podcast, "The Raise Your Game Show", which can be accessed on most podcast platforms. For more information on Alan and his professional services, visit his website at https://alansteinjr.com/ or email him at alan@alansteinjr.com. You can also connect with Alan on all the usual social media sites.

Dr Stephen Bird is an elite performance consultant and advisor to professional sports teams and international sporting organizations since 2000, being involved in athlete development and management for a number of high level elite sporting events such as Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, World Championships, World Cups, Southeast Asian Games and Asian Games.Stephen is a well-known author, speaker and researcher with expertise in elite athlete preparation and nutritional supplementation, and has worked with a number of mens and womens National Basketball League teams including the Perth Wildcats (2012-14), West Coast Waves (2012-13), Townsville Fire (2017-19), Townsville Crocs (2014-16), the Illawarra Hawks (2016-19) and internationally with the Indonesian Olympic team, the Scottish Commonwealth Games mens basketball team, and the Glasgow Rock (2019) from the British Basketball League.This interview covers a range of highly practical and readily applicable tips and thoughts for basketball coaches drawing from Stephen's experience working with elite athletes at the international, national league level, and also youth basketball level, through his work with the New South Wales State Performance Program. We discuss core strength considerations for basketball, Stephen's 100 point recovery checklist, mindset development and an accountability blueprint, tips for developing a mental mindset for free-throw shooting and the recovery pyramid.Stephen mentions some excellent resources during the interview including Dr Jo Lukins' book "The Elite" https://www.drjolukins.com/ and also a great app called Smiling Mind https://www.smilingmind.com.au/ used to assist with athlete meditations and mindfulness strategies.Listeners can contact Dr Stephen Bird through his email spb@stephenbird.co or check his website https://stephenbird.co/ . You can also follow Stephen on all of the usual social media platforms.

Jason Chainey is an Australian Basketball Coach fulfilling one of his dreams in working as an Assistant Coach with the Washington State Cougars women's team in Pullman, Washington USA in the Pac-12 Conference in NCAA Division 1. He joined Head Coach Kamie Ethridge and Associate Head Coach Laurie Koehn on staff in March 2019.Jason spent over two decades coaching at the highest levels in Australian professional basketball, being an assistant coach with the Adelaide Lightning in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) from 2016-18. Prior to that role, Jason was Head Coach of the South West Metro Pirates in Brisbane QBL women's team (2016-17), and with the Logan Thunder WNBL team including four years as the team's head coach from 2009-2015. In 2013, Jason's efforts were recognised as a finalist for the WNBL Coach of the Year award. Jason has spent several years assisting at the Phoenix Mercury WNBA Training camp with Australian Opals and Phoenix Mercury Head Coach Sandy Brondello.In this interview, Jason gives some fantastic insights into his role at Washington State, and the recruiting, scouting and athlete development work that he and the coaching staff undertake. Hailing from Brisbane, Queensland, he talks about his early days in coaching in Brisbane and Bundaberg, and the experiences in coaching in the WNBL and QBL.You can keep up to date with the Washington State Cougars women's team season at: https://wsucougars.com/sports/womens-basketball

Greg Fox is one of the Gold Coast’s most successful basketball products, having been a Gold Coast junior representative player and Queensland State rep in Under 16's and Under 18's. Greg went on to a short college career as one of the first Queensland basketball players to receive an athletic scholarship and attend a college program at Atlantic Christian College in North Carolina. On his return to Queensland, he caught the eye of Brisbane Bullets Head Coach Brian Kerle and played for the Bullets in the NBL from 1998 to 1992. From his NBL career, Greg finished a Health Science Degree from Griffith University and then began working in sports administration for Basketball Queensland, Ipswich Basketball, the Australian Sports Commission and Runaway Bay Basketball Association on the North Gold Coast. Greg has recently started his own coaching business XPress Basketball and is running clinics throughout January and school Term 1 in 2020, with the next clinic being held 13-14 January 2020 at Coomera Rivers State School. For more information on Greg's coaching services, contact him on southportxpress@gmail.com or on Facebook or Instagram at @xpressbasketballgc .In this interview, Greg discusses the early influencers on his basketball playing career, playing for the Brisbane Bullets amongst NBL legends such as Leroy Loggins, Larry Sengstock and Ron Radliff, and how he is delivering a youth mentoring and practical goal setting program with youth basketball players through XPress Basketball.

Dale Ryan is an Australian Basketball Coach working overseas as a Project partner – international coach and player development with Valencia Basketball Club in Spain. Dale is a former Qld Basketball League Head Coach with Northside Wizards and Brisbane Capitals, and was Assistant Coach to Head Coach Joey Wright with the Brisbane Bullets from 2003-2008, and headed up the Bullets Optimus Academy Program for youth players. Dale has also been active with youth teams including roles as Assistant Coach with the Australian mens Under 19 team, and various Queensland junior rep teams.Dale played basketball in the late 80’s where he played in Victorian State teams, was involved in the ITC program, along with participation in countless club and rep teams, with a high in 1987 with a 4th place at the Australian Junior Championships. He then set his sights on the NBL becoming a Development Player for the North Melbourne Giants who collected a Championship in 1994, along with playing in the Victorian State Basketball League for 9 years (1992-2000). He talks in this interview about the coaches he had during this time and their influence including Doug Trahair, Ken Watson, Mike McHugh, and Brett Brown.Dale talks in this interview about his experiences growing up playing basketball in Victoria, the observations of coaching the British Under 18 3 x 3 team, and the work he is doing with Valencia Basketball Club in Spain. For more information on the coaching and player development programs Dale is working on, contact him at Assist Basketball http://assistbasketball.com.au/ or via info@assistbasketball.com.au

Clarence "Pop" Dickerson is one of the Qld Basketball League all-time greats, playing with the Toowoomba Mountaineers during the 1980's and 90's. He attended Elon University in North Carolina, USA before transferring to the University of Hawaii from 1979-82. On June 29th 1982, the Washington Bullets selected him in Round 5 of the NBA Draft in round 12 (104th pick overall out of 225 draft picks). Other players drafted in 1982 were: James Worthy #1 to LA Lakers; Dominique Wilkins #3 to Utah Jazz; and Eric “Sleepy” Floyd #13 to New Jersey Nets.Pop ventured from Hawaii to Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia in 1986 and played a lead role with the Mountaineers who experienced great success in the period from 1986 to 1992, with the team winning back to back State Championships in 1990 & 1991 under Head Coach Harry Spencer. He averaged over 30 points per game over 10 seasons during that time.Pop was also Head Coach of the Gold Coast Warriors in the ABA and also the Toowoomba Mountaineers in the Queensland Basketball League (QBL). Pop is the founder of the Supercamp, a 5 day live-in basketball camp held in Toowoomba, which in 2020 is in it's 32nd year. Details on Supercamp can be found on: https://www.supercamp.com.au/ and the 2020 Supercamp will be held from the 12 to 16th January 2020.In this interview, Pop talks about his high school, college and NBA draft experiences and the events that brought him from Hawaii to Toowoomba to play in the QBL. We talk about the continuing success of Supercamp and the great coaches he has had assist to ensure the ongoing success of that program over a long period of time.

Rod Anderson has been Head Coach of the Townsville Heat men's team from 2015 and is also Head Coach of the Queensland North Under 18 mens team. Rod began his coaching in 2010 as Assistant Coach & Scouting/Technical Coach for the Townsville Crocodiles in the NBL. Rod was Assistant Coach for the Townsville Heat from 2010-2014 with now Cairns Taipans NBL Head Coach Mike Kelly. Rod was selected as 2016 QBL Coach of the Year and then coached the Heat to back-to-back QBL State Championships in 2017 & 2018. Rod is an active Twitter contributor (@DJ_Rod) and in this interview, speaks about the early influences on his coaching career in Townsville from the Suns through to the Crocs and now the Townsville Heat. Rod is now into his 10th season with the Heat and talks about off-season recruiting and team preparations, his thoughts on junior basketball development and his thoughts on the current 2019/20 NBL season.

Michael (also known as V-Dogg) is a Brisbane (Queensland) local coach who started coaching at West Brisbane Falcons when he was 16. He has coached all age groups from under 10s to under 23s over 28 years of coaching within the Club, Association, State league and NBL levels. He was an apprentice Coach/Manager with the Brisbane Bullets NBL mens team in 1996-1997 under Head Coach David Ingham. In 2020, Michael will be in his 9th season as a QBL head coach, having also been head coach at the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast, as well as coaching many successful Brisbane Basketball junior and senior representative teams. Michael was an Assistant Coach for the 2019 Brisbane Capitals men's team which won the QBL state Championship, under Head Coach (and former Australian Boomer and Brisbane Bullets Assistant Coach) Sam McKinnon.In this interview, Michael talks about his role as Head Coach for the Brisbane Capitals 2020 NBL North women's team, recruiting activities, and his thoughts on team building and utilising youth players in his roster.

Sandy Brondello is the Head Coach of the Australian Opals and Head Coach of the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA. Sandy is a 4 time Olympian, winning 2 silver medals and one bronze, and is one of Australia's all-time best shooting guards. She played in 4 World Championships with the Opals, winning 2 bronze medals. Sandy attended the Australian Institute of Sport from 1986–1987, and first played with the Australian Opals at age 18. Sandy played for 10 seasons in the Australian WNBL, reaching the playoffs on three occasions and being named Most Valuable Player in 1995 as a member of the Brisbane Blazers. She also played between 1992 and 2002 in Germany for BTV Wuppertal, winning ten national championships and the 1995–96 FIBA Women's European Champions Cup. Sandy had a strong WNBA career, playing in 1998-99 with the Detroit Shock, 2001-2002 with the Miami Sol, and in 2003 with the Seattle Storm. She was inducted to the Australian Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.Sandy started her WNBA coaching career in 2005 as Assistant Coach of San Antonio Silver Stars, and became head coach in 2010. In 2011 she then worked as Assistant Coach with the Los Angeles Sparks, and became Head Coach of the Phoenix Mercury in 2013, and won the 2014 WNBA Championship with a WNBA record 29 win/5 loss record, earning her the WNBA Coach of the Year.Sandy was appointed to Head Coach of the Australian Opals in April 2017, and in this interview, we caught up on a 2019 Christmas visit to Australia and talked about her playing days, her role as a WNBA Head Coach, and the preparations underway for the Australian Opals in the lead up to the 2020 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in February in France, and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in July.

Chris Riches is the current men's Head Coach with the Ipswich Force in the Queensland Basketball League, now in his third season in that role since 2018. Chris has also been the Head Coach of the Ipswich Under 21 men's team from 2016-2019, Assistant Coach for the Ipswich Force QBL men’s Team, Head Coach Breast Logic women’s Intensity Super League Team 2011, Head Coach for Gold Coast ACC women’s program 2011, and Director of Coaching, John Paul College (Brisbane) from 2010 to 2011.Chris is the founder of the basketball website Functional Basketball Coaching https://functionalbasketballcoaching.com/ and actively keeps this site up to date with articles and research.In this interview, I talk with Chis about his coaching philosophy, preparations for the upcoming NBL1 North season, the importance of developing junior players within the Club ranks, and how Chris uses statistics, scouting and technology such as Hudl (https://www.hudl.com/en_gb/), which is the preferred platform for video editing in the league. Chris also recently took on the role as President of Ipswich Basketball Association, and speaks about the focus for junior player development in the interview and the impact and expectations of import players into the local community.

Mat Gane is President of the Maranoa Basketball Association in Roma, Queensland. Roma is 515 kilometres (320 miles) west north-west of Brisbane, Queensland, and has a population of about 8,500. Roma is a large rural centre supporting the cattle and other agriculture, coal seam gas, and is home of the Big Rig. It has regular temperatures over 40 celsius (104 Farenheit) in summer and below 0 celsius in winter.Mat has been hands-on in the establishment of the local basketball association for over 4 years, and has been instrumental in the growth of the Association from 0 to 200 members. He is an active coach and has worked to increase the number of children participating in grass-roots basketball clinics at schools throughout the Maranoa catchment (an area roughly about the size of Victoria). In this interview, Mat talks about the challenges in coaching in outback Queensland, the importance of showing local kids the basketball pathway through running clinics and meeting their NBL idols, the Brisbane Bullets, and the way in which the Maranoa Basketball Association are growing their membership through actively giving children opportunities to participate.

Warwick Cann is the General Manager, Game Development with Basketball Queensland (BQ). Warwick has been an All-Australian Youth coach, coaching at the elite level for youth representative teams in New South Wales and Queensland, and has been involved with WNBL and NBL teams across Australia. He was also the United Kingdom National Teams Director with British Basketball and more recently was the Director High-Performance with the James Cook University Townsville Fire in the WNBL.Warwick has recently produced a Basketball Queensland Style of Play document which provides an excellent framework for coaches to maximise the opportunities for athlete development, coach development and teaching. "The BQ style of play is a vision for how BQ want to play and is guidance to the Associations to help develop their Queensland representatives. It is hoped that it leads to a greater appreciation of the need for better technical skill development rather than relying on gameplay for athlete development."In this interview, we talk about Warwick's teaching background, his extensive and well-travelled basketball career and the influences and vision he has for basketball in Queensland.

Dave Claxton is a former Australian Boomers Assistant Coach, NBL Head Coach, and Queensland State League Head Coach. Dave was inducted into the Queensland Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016, recognising his involvement in Queensland basketball for 40+ years. In 1973, Claxton moved from Tasmania to Brisbane as a 29-year-old, and quickly became involved at the State League and NBL level. Dave describes his best memory as when he was involved with the Brisbane Bullets in 1980 where he says he was a part-time coach with a full-time job. Dave coached in the NBL with the Brisbane Bullets, the Gold Coast Rollers, the Adelaide 36ers and was assistant coach with Wollongong Hawks. At the state league level he coached the Brisbane Brewers and the Gold Coast Goannas. After being head coach of The Gold Coast Rollers in the NBL, the Club had an early exit out of the league shortly thereafter, but Dave was later a driving force behind the rebirth of the new team, the Gold Coast Blaze, back into the NBL. More recently, Dave has been the basketball director and head coach at The Southport School for over 15 years.In this interview, Dave talks about his style of coaching and we reflect on his fantastic talk at the 2019 Basketball Queensland Coaches Conference on how to prepare a team, getting both yourself as a Coach and the team ready for a season or tournament. Dave gives some advice for new basketball coaches, his emphasis on the defensive part of the game, and his thoughts on the recent changes to the Australian head coach's position, the outstanding contribution of outgoing coach Andrej Lemanis and some thoughts on the appointment of Brett Brown to the Boomers head coaching role. We also talk about whether the Gold Coast might again one day make a re-entry into the NBL.

Simon Mitchell is the Head Coach of the South East Melbourne Phoenix, a new Club started in the 2019-20 NBL season. Simon talks about his college basketball in Maine USA and then being involved as an Assistant Coach with the Melbourne Tigers, Singapore Slingers and most recently Melbourne United as Assistant Coach to Dean Vickerman. In this interview, Simon talks about establishing the team culture, how trust is developing in a new playing group and the support for the team from the basketball heartland of South East Melbourne. This interview was conducted 3 days before the opening game of the 2019-20 NBL season.

Ian Stacker is one of Australia's most highly qualified basketball coaches. He has the highest possible accreditation awarded by Basketball Australia as a Master Coach. He has coached in all areas of the game and was most recently Head Coach of the Australian Institute of Sport's Men's Basketball Program. Whilst at the AIS, Ian utilised the magnificent sports science support available to investigate methods, techniques and training programs to make a significant difference to the development of shooting in Australia. Adam Gorman, the skills acquisition expert at the AIS, was also instrumental in helping to shape the philosophies and development tactics that now form cutting edge development for shooting.Ian Stacker's other achievements include:• 2013 - Current - Head of Elite Sport/Head Basketball Coach - Templestowe College, Melbourne.• AIS Men's Head Coach 2010-2013• 22 Years as a Head or Assistant Coach in the National Basketball League• 2 Time NBL Coach of the Year• World Championship Gold Medal winner - 1997 National Young Men's Team• NBL Championship Winner - 1992 South East Melbourne Magic as Assistant Coach• International Coaching experience coaching touring teams in USA, Europe and Asia• Professional Development Experience in USA, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, Italy, Spain, Lativa, France, Korea, China and Japan• Ian has 22 years of NBL coaching experience under his belt, including eight years as the head coach of the Townsville Crocodiles.• He was NBL Coach of the Year in 2000 and 2002.This interview was made 3 days before the first game of the 2019-20 NBL season, with Ian talking about his role as Assistant Coach with the NBL's newest team, the South East Melbourne Phoenix. Ian talks about his time in the NBL as a coach and players, his time at the AIS as Head Coach, the Townsville Crocs, the passion he has for the skill of shooting in basketball, and the excitement around the formation of the Phoenix.

Michael Lake was recently appointed Coach Development Manager with Basketball Queensland (BQ) in Brisbane. This role works with BQ's member associations delivering coach accreditation courses across the state. Michael talks in this interview about his role, some of the challenges in working across a large geographic area, the development opportunities he had in working with the Brisbane Bullets in the Australian National Basketball League, and his appointment to the Head Coach role for the Queensland South Under 18 boys team to compete at the National Championships in early 2020.

Patrick Hunt OAM commenced his coaching career in the New South Wales regional town of Tamworth. He then progressed to coaching New South Wales (NSW) state teams from 1972. Results for these teams were: gold medal for U20 Men's in 1979 and silver medals for U16 NSW Men in 1972, U16 NSW Men in 1973 and U20 NSW Country Men in 1978. In 1981, Patrick was appointed Head Coach of the National Basketball League team the Canberra Cannons. He soon after was appointed Men's Basketball Coach with the Australian Institute of Sport in July 1981, a position he held until 1993. During this period, with Head Coach Adrian Hurley, Patrick coached future Australian Olympic players including Mark Dalton, Luc Longley, Shane Heal, Mark Bradtke, Andrew Vlahov and Brett Maher.In the early 1980's, Patrick completed a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Sports Studies from the University of Canberra, and from 1993 to 2008, Patrick was the Manager of National Player and Coach Development for Basketball Australia and Head Coach of the National Intensive Training Centre Program. In this role, Patrick assisted in developing an 'Australian way' of coaching and playing basketball and players to come out of this development included Lauren Jackson, Penny Taylor, Andrew Bogut, Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova.In 2009, Patrick was appointed to the new position of Applied Technical Advancement Coach at the Australian Institute of Sport, working with Olympic Games and World Championship calibre coaches. In 2012, he led an international coach study tour of aspiring Australian Olympic coaches to the 2012 London Olympics.In 2013, he was appointed to the position of Senior Consultant, Australian Institute of Sport, High Performance Coaching and Leadership Section continuing his work with Olympic Games and World Championship coaches and leaders. He held this position until his retirement in August 2017.In 2010, Hunt was appointed President of FIBA's World Association of Basketball Coaches. Hunt was engaged by FIBA to scout and identify trends at 2006 and 2010 World Championships and 2016 Rio Olympics. In 2014, he was appointed as Chairman of FIBA's Technical Commission, FIBA's most respected and influential Commission. Patrick continues to hold the FIBA positions with the World Association of Basketball Coaches and Technical Commission.From 2011, he has been a Program Director with the NBA/FIBA Basketball without Borders Camps Program for Europe, Asia, the America's and Global Camp Program whilst also coaching in the Africa Program. In 1995, Patrick was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia for service to Basketball, particularly as a coach.

The first Australian Basketball Coach podcast is with former Olympian and Brisbane Bullets and St Kilda (NBL) Head Coach, Brian Kerle. Brian represented Australia in basketball at the 1972 Munich Olympics, and was the Assistant coach of the Australian Boomers team at the Seoul Olympics in 1988 (team included Luc Longley, Andrew Gaze, Mark Bradke). Brian is 2nd on all time NBL Championships won as coach (4), 2nd (Equal) on all time Grand Finals Games as coach (12), 3rd on all times NBL Games coached (456), 3rd on all time NBL Games won as coach (282), and 2nd on all time NBL final four appearances as coach (8). Brian now lives in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia and can be reached at https://briankerlebasketball.com/