Building Better Basketball

Covering off a wide range of topics from South Australia Country Basketball & Basketball New Zealand , Mel Downer joins Neil to talk her unique coaching journey, advice she gives to coaches she works with, her strong belief on balance & the future Opals player/coach in her own house!
 
 
 
 
 
 

Fiona is a Sports Psychologist who has worked with numerous athletes, coaches, officials and parents across a large number of sports, at all levels from local level to international level. Providing support and information for sporting parents is a true passion for her. Helping parents to understand how to assist their sporting child reach their full potential and enjoy their sport is a key area of her work. This has lead to the creation of a series of resources with the NSW Office of Sport. Parents, Guardians and Carers | NSW Government
Neil and Fiona dive deep into the parent and coach relationship and hopefully share a few helpful ideas!

Todays guest will be no stranger to all of you and I’m sure you are all wondering why it has taken till now for him to make an appearance as his name is synonymous with Basketball Coach Development in Australia. Peter Lonergan is the Director of High Performance Coach Development for Basketball Australia.  Peter is an influential coach educator impacting coaching development around the world. He has been an Australian Opals Assistant Coach, a highly successful State Director of Coaching in Victoria and New South Wales, and an international clinician for FIBA. In the last year I have lost count of the number of clinics Pete has presented at or resources he has produced or Basketball tournaments he has attended

Trying to describe todays guest could take many turns as Leigh Ellis is known for many different reasons to the Australian Basketball community !.
You might know him from his work on NBA TV ? You might know him from the global podcast smash that is the Starters. You might just randomly have started following him on twitter as his shotting competition with Steph Curry, yes THE Steph Curry came across your timeline!
Before there was Ben Simmons, Dyson Daniels et al there was Leigh Ellis, arguably the Australian most well known to the American basketball general public! Now he has a new project, which anyone who loves basketball, will I’m sure as they put their head to the pillow at night, dream about, touring the world just playing pick up hoops and learning about the people and the game!
Follow Leigh on Instagram https://t.co/I70XXu94EE 
Follow Leigh on Youtube https://t.co/eVsiQzwSdH 
Follow Leigh on Twitter Leigh Ellis (@LeighEllis) / Twitter 
Support the International Pick up tour here https://t.co/jOBvb0en4r 

Neil is joined by Sydney Masters the Mental Skills coach at the Arizona Diamondbacks in Major League Baseball. Sydney has experience in Sports Psychology and cognitive performance! Suffice to say Sydney has a lot of experience seeing how athletes brains work when things are going well and probably most importantly when things aren’t! I can confidently predict this pod will leave coaches with plenty to think about and hope you enjoy this discussion! We will take a bit of a break now for Christmas and the New Year and be back in February for season 3!

Neil is joined by an Australian who has been part of one of the NBA’s biggest franchises and worked with Doc Rivers and Joel Embiid but not many of you will know her name! Carmen Colomer started off her working career with the AIS before moving into the world of Rugby with the Brumbies and the Brisbane Broncos. In 2021 she then got the opportunity of a lifetime to join the Philadelphia 76ers as the Director of Sports Science before returning home very recently to take up the position of the Head of Performance at the Perth Glory football club. 
 
Article discussed in episode Momentum in the Six Nations – is it real? - Rugby World

Lisa Middleton is one of Australia’s most experienced Sports Dietitians. With over 20 years spent advising some of the nation’s most elite athletes, Lisa has built expertise in reaching optimum levels of performance in sport. Lisa has an unparalleled history of working with teams at the top of their game. In her role as Sports Dietitian, Lisa has advised the Essendon, Hawthorn, Collingwood, Melbourne and St Kilda AFL Football clubs. Melbourne Vixens Netball, Melbourne Storm Rugby League, Melbourne Victory Football club and Melbourne United Basketball club.  Lisa currently consults to South East Melbourne Phoenix Basketball Club, Basketball Victoria, Collingwood AFL,AFLW Football club and Collingwood Magpies Netball.

Neil is joined by a coach who has gone from the top of Australia in Cairns right down to the bottom in Tasmania! Nic Martin is currently the State Head Coach and Development Manager at Basketball Tasmania. Nic is also just recently returned from Guam where he was one of the Assistant coaches of the Gold Medal winning U15 Australian Girls team!  Nic's coaching journey started with him shooting his shot in Townsville, a great message and journey for all young coaches!

Neil is joined by one of the most exciting players in the WNBL Steph Reid ! Steph played College basketball in the US for the University of Buffalo, picking up MVP honours and being part of their first ever NCAA tournament run! Back home in Australia she has played for the Dandenong Rangers/Southside Flyers and now with the Townsville Fire and made her Opals debut this year against Japan in Sydney! But Neil, I hear you ask Steph is a player, not a coach? Just wait! 

Darren Smith (CEO Basketball Australia Pathways) was a player himself which we will touch on but we have him on to talk about the US College pathway which is growing increasingly popular for Australian players looking to be able to gain further development of their skills, education and life experience. Darren has been through this experience himself as a player but most recently Darren has also been through it with his daughter Alanna as she secured a scholarship at Stanford University.