Junior Championship DOC & Elite Coach
Post season is always a period of change and movement and this year has been no different. Darren Perry, our Director of Coaching for the last 12 months, has been re- appointed as the Dandenong Rangers SEABL Men’s Head Coach and as part of this appointment, Darren is required to have some involvement in the Junior Rangers. This means that Darren is no longer able to continue in his role as the Bulleen Boomer’s Director of Coaching.
Darren has made an excellent contribution to the Junior Championship Program this season, mentoring and educating coaches, developing and delivering new programs designed to improve player fundamentals such as Boomers HQ and the SPP, providing new coaching tools, delivering on court sessions for all teams and showing everyone that learning to play basketball should be fun. We have received a significant amount of positive feedback on Darren’s performance from parents, players and coaches and we thank Darren for his contribution to the Boomers program and wish him good luck.
While one door closes another one opens and Bulleen Boomers are very pleased to announce the appointment of Mike McHugh as our new Director of Coaching and Cheryl Chambers as our Elite Program Head Coach.
Mike brings to the position over 35 years of coaching experience the last 25 as a professional basketball coach. He has worked at all levels of the sport in Australia, from grass roots to high performance, and internationally has toured and professionally developed in the US, Spain, Russia, China, eastern Europe and France. Mike also coached the Wellington Saints in New Zealand’s NBL, whom he led to the 2003 NZ Championship. In fact Mike coached our Bulleen 12.1 girls in 2012 where they were runners-up in VC.
Mike was recently Basketball Australia’s National Manager, Player and Coach Development for the previous eight years. Mike was also recruited by Sports New Zealand to develop a national coaching strategy for all levels of coaching across all sports in New Zealand.
Glenn Thornton, Junior Championship Convenor said “we are very excited that Mike McHugh will be joining our program, bringing his substantial experience to benefit our coaches and players. His reputation as a coaching mentor is internationally recognised and we know from our own experience that Mike is fantastic with young players.”
Cheryl Chambers is well known to the Bulleen family. Cheryl has coached at the elite level for many years, having been the U19 Australian Gems head coach as well as many roles within the WNBL, most recently as the Melbourne Boomers assistant coach. Cheryl will lead our elite and development programs, the State Performance Program and Boomers HQ.
“Cheryl is an exceptional coach and players of all ages respond positively to Cheryl’s coaching style. Cheryl is a much sought after coach we are very happy that she is taking on such an important role for the Boomers” Thornton said.
Mike McHugh Background
Mike brings to the position over 35 years of coaching experience the last 25 as a professional basketball coach. He has worked at all levels of the sport in Australia, from grass roots to high performance, and internationally has toured and professionally developed in the US, Spain, Russia, China, eastern Europe and France. Mike also coached the Wellington Saints in New Zealand’s NBL, whom he led to the 2003 NZ Championship.
Mike was recently Basketball Australia’s National Manager, Player and Coach Development, for the previous eight years he had been resident of Wellington, NZ since November 2002 when he was recruited by Sports New Zealand to develop a national coaching strategy for all levels of coaching across all sports in New Zealand.
Mike went to New Zealand from his position as Head Coach of the ACT Academy of Sport basketball program. He had previously been Head Coach of the Canberra Capitals in the Australian WNBL and had worked with Australia’s elite junior players at the Australian Institute of Sport. He has also had a role on the coaching staff of the Australian Opals from 1996-2002.
Mike was the Head Coach of the Tall Ferns, New Zealand’s national women’s basketball team who won silver medals at the William Jones Cup in Taiwan in 2005 and also at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006. He participated in the Olympics Games in Athens and Beijing with the Tall Ferns finishing 8th and 10th respectively. Since Mike’s involvement the Tall Ferns have gone from unranked in the world to 15th, they qualified for the quarter finals at the Athens Olympics- finishing eighth, and created history by beating the World Champions Australia for the first time ever in April 2008 at the Pre- Olympic Tournament in Beijing.
Mike believes strongly in the team ideal and that success can only be earned. To achieve this, athletes must develop sound fundamental skills and have the discipline to pursue their goals, which should reflect team objectives. Primarily though he believes basketball should be a positive experience for all participants and the obligation of administrations should be to ensure that this is a priority.
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