News

We see them working the sidelines on Friday nights and taking care of business and their players on the practice court, but what is it that inspires our coaches to do what they do?

We put that question to our Camberwell Dragons coaches and the responses are rolling in fast. Some of the answers are longer and more detailed than others, but all of them to date have at least two things in common: the love of the game and a passion to help our young athletes be the best they can be.

In this, the first instalment of our Why I Coach series, we caught up with Chris Allison, Co-Coach of the Camberwell Dragons 14.4 Boys. Chris (left of photo) also plays for the Dragons Youth League Men's team. This is his story:

"I coach because basketball is all I’ve ever known. I played as a double bottom age player in Under-12s all the way through to winning Classic and the VC Championship in my Under-18s year.

"I love the travels with Co-Coach Mitch (Bacon), I love the thrill of winning, I love the different personalities of the players, I love the strategy of the game.

"I love the sense of community within Camberwell. I love seeing the improvement from the start to the end of the season step by step, little by little getting better every training.

"Coaching is something I want to do for the rest of my life. Potentially even trying to coach professionally. For me it’s not about the destination, but more enjoying the journey along the way!"

Look out for the second instalment of our Why I Coach series here and on our social media platforms later in the week.

• Do you have a story or stories – ones we can publish, of course! – about one or more of your favourite coaches along the way? Send them to us at [email protected] and we'll share them with the Camberwell Basketball community here and/or on our social media platforms. Bonus points if you've got a photo we can run with it!