With Basketball drawing ever closer to a return we are excited to announce our two Youth League 1 Men and Women’s coaches for 2022 with one returning and one new coach joining the Big V ranks! Check out all the info below to learn about our two coaches and what their hopes and aspirations for 2022 are.
A Fresh face will be on the sidelines come march next year when our Youth league 1 Men take the court for what will be their second and hopefully full season of Big V. Sam Buckby who has been a prominent part of both our community competition with YMCA and in our VJBL ranks as a head coach is excited about the opportunity to take on the challenge of our Youth League 1 Men.
“I’m really looking forward to working with what will be an extremely talented group of young men. We expect some similar names and faces to put their hand up for a spot and I am excited to see some emerging young stars coming out of the junior program who could strengthen this squad further. And in all honesty, after a couple disrupted years, I’m just really looking forward to a more consistent season where the players will get the opportunity to develop, compete and enjoy the game they love.”
With development on his mind Sam is committed to making sure the season is not only full of hard-work and improvement but also ensuring that the whole playing group is enjoying themselves which will hopefully lead them to a finals berth.
“The number one goal is to give each of the squad members the guidance and opportunity to continually improve and set themselves up for whatever is the next step in their basketball journey. Make no mistake, we’ll be playing to win but these lads are still young and their development is paramount. All that said, if we get the balance of enthusiasm, player development, team dynamic and competitiveness right then I have no doubt it will be an enjoyable and successful season ahead for all involved.”
We wish Sam and his team the best of luck and are eager to follow along with their success this season!
Registration for tryouts is now open click HERE
Coming back for another year is long time coach Mitchell Stoop, who will be looking to further develop and improve his Youth League 1 Women’s side with some familiar faces and fresh talent from our junior ranks!
“A COVID season was always going to be challenging. With the constant change of restrictions and rules but credit to the women for having such a fantastic attitude and resilience to be positive and face every challenge. The team worked very hard to develop their own culture for future generations to build on. A culture of inclusivity and hard work.” Said Stoop.
Stoop was proud of his team made up of juniors and seniors, “The actual season showed a very young youth league team, most still under 18 with tremendous potential for future years to come. They proved to oppositions that even through adversity of constant injury that they could compete and stay close with the top teams.”
“To us this just shows that if we continue to build this great culture and continue to work hard we can build something amazing for not only ourselves but the future generations. It’s been a pleasure to continue to help athletes reach their college aspirations and give opportunity.“
Stoop looks forward to this season as a growth year and is wanting to help develop every athlete to not only help win games now, but see them join our senior team ranks into the future. “The goal this season is to continually work with the athletes long term individual goals and help them achieve those goals. Whether that be college aspirations, NBL1 aspirations or be the best athlete they can be for their home town. The pathway in Geelong has never been stronger. Athletes have opportunities to grow here professionally.”
We look forward to seeing all the growth and development along with wins this season as we follow along with our Youth League 1 Women!
Registration for tryouts is now open click HERE
You can keep up to date with all info at our Facebook and Instagram pages @geelongunitedbasketball!
