SSES have been fortunate enough in this blog to present the story of our second year Sport & Exercise Science BSc undergraduate, Troy Culley. Here he explains his experience coaching basketball, here is Troy’s story:
“I started coaching basketball in 2006 helping out with my local club Torbay Tigers in Devon under the guidance of former National Team’s Coach Rick Wooldridge. In 2010 I was appointed U14 Boys Head Coach as well as an Assistant Coach with the South West Area Performance Centre, which worked with the best 35 players, aged 13-15 in the region. Through the Regional program players would be develop towards selection for both England U15 and U16 National Teams.
The South West Regional program also gave me the opportunity to further develop by taking select teams to junior tournaments across Europe and since my involvement in 2010 I have been to 7 European nations, visiting Czech Republic, Estonia, Sweden, Poland and Belgium.
Through the next two years (2011-2013) I progressed from coaching Torbay’s U14 boys to being the Head Coach of both Club U16 and Men’s team, U13 and U16 at Churston Ferrers Grammar School as well as U15 County and U13 Regional boys.
In addition to this my coaching started to be recognized in wider circles as I was awarded Torbay Sports Personality of the Year Coach of the Year 2011 and Devon Youth Coach of the Year 2012.
During the summer of 2013 I moved to Kent to progress further from both a coaching and an academic standpoint by joining Medway Park Crusaders and starting my BSc Sport and Exercise Science at the University of Kent. During my first year I assisted across all of the club teams including Division 1 & 4 Mens, U18/U16 Premier Men and also U14 Boys. To supplement this I also worked with the U19 Academy based at Canterbury High and also continued my commitment to Regional coaching by joining the South East Regional Performance Centre.
This set me up for a very productive summer as I was able to work with both South West U13 and U17 Regional Teams at their respective tournaments, take another South West team to a tournament in Estonia and also work at the American ran Five Star Basketball camp in Leeds and also work at Great Britain Senior Player/Olympic Athlete Dan Clark’s basketball camp in London.
As I look to build on this during the coming year I will move from my Assistant’s role and Head Coach the U14 Boys. In addition I will still assist the club’s Division 4 Men’s team as well as moving into my second year with the South East Regional Performance Centre.”