Wolves Coach Appointed to Top Job With England
Friday, 29 January 2010
Worcester Wolves head coach Paul James has been named as England Men’s Basketball Coach.
Paul, who joined the Wolves shortly before Christmas, will coach the senior men’s team.“I’m really honoured to have been offered this job,” he said. “I have played for England at various levels throughout my career and to now lead the national team is the pinnacle of my coaching career.”
Paul said he hoped to bring the national team to the University of Worcester – home of the Worcester Wolves – to prepare and train for international matches.
“The University has excellent facilities and a great reputation in basketball so it is an ideal place to develop a training programme for the team,” he said.
Paul is one of the most successful coaches the British Basketball League has ever seen and in 2006 was voted the BBL Coach of the Year.
Mick Donovan, Head of the University’s Institute of Sport and Exercise Science and co -founder of the Wolves, said: “Paul is a fantastic coach and his experience will be invaluable to the England team. It is a huge coup for us to have such a prominent coach working here at the University of Worcester and with the Wolves.
“Already, he is making an impact with our coaching staff within the club and with our students on coaching courses. There will also, I am sure, be benefits for the hundreds of schoolchildren who we work with through our many basketball initiatives, not to mention the ongoing specialist research within our Institute of Sport and Exercise Science.”
Roger Clarke, Chairman of Worcester Wolves Basketball Club, added: “It’s fantastic news that Paul has been appointed England coach. Everyone at the Club is very excited.”
Worcester Wolves celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. The Club’s innovative work in partnership with the University of Worcester has received international acclaim and initiatives have included hosting International European Championship games and National Finals, supporting national teams in sport science areas, leading in research and academic fields in areas related to basketball, culminating in the introduction of the European MSc in Basketball Coaching in partnership with the Lithuanian Academy of Physical Education and the Lithuanian Basketball Federation endorsed by FIBA Europe.
Significantly the University is due to host the World Ranked Lithuanian National Team in their preparations for the 2012 Olympics. Each year an estimated 100 students apply from around the World for basketball bursaries and scholarships of which only a handful are awarded.
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