2014/2015 VJBL Season Hawthorn Magic Coaching Panel

Kelly Breazeale has assembled an exceptional list of coaches for the 2014/2015 season!

Please note that only the 1st team coaches are locked in and that the head coach for an age group is not always the coach for the 1s. The lists of coaches are not in team order. 

The final number of teams and coaching assignments for each age group will be decided during the tryouts. 

 

Coaching Panel
U12 Boys				U12 Girls
Jarrad Kieser HC				Alan Colwell HC
Ben Grossman	Grant Bevan	Nick Hart		Nicole Swan	Michelle Brogan (1)	Adam Kneale
Greg McArdle	Catherine Lowe			Adrian Lewis	Skye Beaton	Dean Libertone
U14 Boys				U14 Girls
Adonis Jordan HC				Sandy Nelson HC
Pete Vermont	Tony Giuliano	Michael Burgess		Emily Bland	James Kafkaladis	Hamish Ryan
Chris Swenson	Jake Bianco					Anthony Keck
U16 Boys				U16 Girls
Lucas Kotros HC				Jai Cesari HC
Hunter Santamaria	Graham Hunt				Scott Delzoppo	Chris Clark
Greg Cook	George Demos				Aimee Page	Greg Niven
U18 Boys				U18 Girls
Shawn King HC				Andrew White HC
Marcus Timmons	Andrea Bird			Angela Hendley James Kafkaladis
U20 Boys
Ben Foster HC

COACHING PROFILES

We have posted some information below about the new recruits we have to our club and some of our very experienced coaches who are returning for season 2014/2015. These coaches will use their experience and skills to help develop our players, fellow coaches and program during 2014/2015. We are readily being recognised as one of the up and coming basketball programs within Victorian Basketball and with this amount of coaching experience amongst our ranks we are sure to create some Magic!

Shawn King: Under 18 Boys HC
Graduated University of Victoria (Canada) 
Played professionally in Australia,  China, England, France and Hong Kong
(Played with Adonis Jordan )
Has won 2 Big V Championships and 2 Championships in England
Has Coached at Dandenong (VJBL) and Chelsea(Big V)

Michelle Brogan Under 12-1 Girls
18 years as an Australian Opal
Won 2 medals in Olympics, silver in 96 games and Bronze in 2000
WNBL MVP
2X International player of the year
WNBA player Phoenix Mercury
WNBL Grand Final MVP
Current Vic Metro Under 20 womens coach

Jai Cesari Under 16 Girls Head coach
Current Under 16 Victoria Metro Women’s Head Coach
2012 Eltham Women’s Big V Champions Head Coach
Under 16 and Under 18 Victoria Metro Assistant Coach

Christopher Clark Under 16 Girls
Siena College coach years 7-12 State players
Medalist McDonalds cup and Australian Schools Championships
Coached several girls to state team pennants

Tony Giuliano Under 14 Boys
Coaching teams at McKinnon and Sandringham VJBL
Has lead teams in both Domestic and representative competitions

James Kafkalakis Under 14 girls
Has coached primary state teams
Coaching experience at Eltham, Warrendyte, BLackburn and McKinnon
Credentialed in NCAS Level 2, First aid level 2, Stats Level 1, 
Coaches a number of Domestic teams as well as VJBL Representative
    
Angela Hendley-Boys Under 16 Girls
Coached both boys and girls VJBL VC at Ringwood 
Coached Women’s Big V Youth Championship at Ringwood

... and here are some bios of our great returning coaches...

ADONIS JORDAN is a former professional basketball player who has played in the NBA with the Denver Nuggets and Milwaukee Bucks. He was the starting point guard for Kansas University during the schools 1991 and 1993 final four appearances. He played a season with the FinnishTapiolan Honka Basketball club and also played for the Victoria Giants in the NBL during the late 1990’s. After retiring from basketball, Jordan accepted an offer to coach the Topeka Tornado of the short-lived semi-pro All-American Professional Basketball League in 2005.

He has also coached in Australia at various junior levels for the Nunawading Spectres, Dandenong Rangers and Chelsea Gulls. Adonis is an excellent teacher of the game and strategist and will be a fantastic mentor for our young talent. Adonis also appeared in the 1994 basketball film, Blue Chips as the starting point guard for a Rick Pitino-coached college team. 

DARREN McGINTY Coached U20’s in the early 1990’s at Blackburn. Whilst only 21 himself. Developed the squad to be Blackburn’s first (what’s now called VC) team. Programme was very successful at the time performing well on Fridays and winning several elite tournaments of the day. Developed and headed programme for touring squad around USA.

Successful record across two separate tours, 17-5. Many/most players graduated to play alongside Darren in Blackburn’s VBA and VBL team (nowadays called ‘Big V’ State Championship). Darren: 2 x club MVP, career av. 20.1ppg, 4.4apg. Mentored for a time by former NBA coach Paul Westphal.

GEORGE DEMOS Warrandyte Boys Victorian Championship (VC) team in the Under 14 age group. This team is the first Warrandyte Venom team to play in VC in this age group. Successful coach of championship team in VC Reserve 2012. Was assistant coach of Vic Metro side at the Southern Cross Challenge in 2013. Recently appointed as a coach of Caufield Grammar basketball program. 

ANDREW WHITE Director of Coaching - Sunbury 3 years. Assistant Coach Sunbury YLW Div 2, won championship. Head coach Diamond Valley- 2 years VYLC, runners up. Development coach Vic Metro u 20- Gold medal. Assistant Coach Vic Metro Under 18. East Coach Challenge Coach Vic Metro

ALAN COLWELL Under 12 Girls Head Coach (2007-2014) Basketball Development camp coach, Ringwood Head Coach 10 yrs. Magic Development Squad Head Coach (2008-2010) Level 2 National Coaching Accreditation Coached Under 12 Girls to 4th place at Nationals (2010)

MICHAEL BURGESS Michael has an extensive basketball background that includes over 36 years involvement in basketball including: Played Juniors at Bulleen, 4 State Titles U12,14,16,18, State Player, Member of Coburg Giants NBL team and squad 1985-86, Member of Bulleen Boomers team 1987-93, including SEBL title in 1990, Coached Bulleen Rep Juniors (girls) 1985-88, including State U16 title 1986 and was Head Coach Carey Grammar Senior Basketball Team 1985-87.

SANDY NELSON: Ringwood Hawks Girls Programme 2004-2007, Head Coach Under 14/16 Girls, Won two VJBL Grand Finals Kilsyth Cobras Girls Programme 2007 – 2011 , Under 16/18 Girls, Won one VJBL Grand Final Runners Up – VJBL, SEABL Kilsyth Lady Cobras 2008-2009, Assistant Coach to Jason Knight. Since coaching, each of Sandy's team’s has held the best defensive record in their Division and every team has made finals.

PETE VERMONT Pete has been a member of our under 12 boys program for the past two seasons and last season took our 4^th side to VJBL 1 narrowly missing the finals. Pete is an excellent junior coach and fantastic motivator. He has been a junior player for Magic from Under 12s - 20s and during 2012 was a member of our Big V Youth league Team. He has coached domestically for Kew East and Nightmares. Pete is renowned for his player development and will continue to be an asset to the U12’s program.

LUCAS KOTROS Lucas Kotros is a successful Junior coach. Lucas has coached for many years at all age groups u12 - u18s Boys & Girls. Magic Coach of the Year 2010, U12 Head Coach since 2007 Lucas has led his teams to the National Junior Classic since 2008 and VC finals in these seasons. In 2012 he won the Gold Medal at the National Junior classic and has been selected as a U14 Vic Metro coach the past 3 years. He has worked at Basketball Victoria Development Camps, USA Tour groups, Magic Development squad and is the founder of the Hawthorn Titans. Level 2 qualified Lucas is great teacher of fundamentals and our Under 12 Boys age group certainly benefit from his knowledge and determination to succeed. During 2012 he coached our Under 12 boys to our First ever VC title. 2013 Bronze Medal under 12 at National Classic , 2014 Silver Medal under 12 at National Classic and Runners up in VC 2013 & 2014.  

Cathryn Lowe: Cathryn has been a coach and player at Magic for many years. She has worked as an assistant coach at 14VC and coached outright in our under 12 boys program as well as U18 girls. She has also worked in our development squad program and takes up a role in our U14 boys program this season. Cathyrn is an excellent junior coach with great knowledge of the game and will provide the passion and energy to make her teams a success.