After Kevin Routledge said the coaching was crucial to push the Leicester Riders forward, it was suggested that we get a top coach on the podcast to talk coaching across the UK, which is exactly what we did!
In episode 21 of the Hoopsfix Podcast, we spoke with James Vear, a member of the GB Under-20 coaching staff for the past four summers, currently plying his trade at Barking Abbey in East London, having also spent time in Canada and Denmark.
In this hour conversation, hear from James on:
How he first got into coaching
His progression as a part-time coach while holding down a full time job into a full time coach
The differences between coaching in the pros and juniors
What he would do to overhaul the coaching qualification system in England
The fragmented pathway in the UK
His thoughts on whether a coach needs a playing background or not
Problems he sees watching junior games in the UK
How he continues to learn and improve as a coach
His experiences of the FIBA Europe Coaching Certificate (FECC) so far
The role the BBL has to play in the British coaching eco system
The difficulties the GB Under-20 side sometimes have in getting US based players to camp
Why the Federation needs more touch-points/on the ground staff season-round for top players
The impact the UK Sport funding cut has had on the GB U20 programme
Why he would rather watch NBL games as opposed to BBL games
His experience of what younger players in the UK aspire to
And much, much, more!
As always, I’d love to get your feedback, come back after you’ve listened and lets get some discussion going in the comments.
The show has been approved on iTunes – find it here and please subscribe to automatically receive new episodes straight to your phone/computer/tablet – if you could give us a review/rating it would be much appreciated to help the podcast spread far and wide!
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