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Dawn Smyth and Canada Basketball in Ireland

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Feb 25, 2015

Basketball Ireland Coaches would like to extend a huge thanks to Canada Basketball for facilitating Dawn Smyth coming to Ireland to assist us in the development of coaching programmes and strategies. On behalf of the coaches who attended the clinics, we would also like to thank Dawn for sharing her knowledge, her enthusiasm, patience and positive attitude which was a lesson for all of us involved.

Ciaran O’Sullivan, Development officer for Cork Basketball, the person responsible for getting Dawn to Ireland, “After exchanging emails with Michael McKay Performance Manager, Women’s High Performance of Canada Basketball it was clear from him that Dawn Smyth was the best candidate to bring to Ireland. He stated that Dawn has the best understanding of how we (Canada Basketball) delivers coach education and has big experience with The Canadian National teams of all levels and the Toronto Raptors. After receiving this news, getting Dawn to Ireland was a major priority. Thankfully her busy schedule did not deter her from coming and the feedback from coaches and players who attended the clinics has been very encouraging. Her clinics were thought provoking and she has certainly motivated and inspired key figures in the development of Basketball in Ireland to create a successful, effective environment for our players and coaches to grow”.

During the 10 days that Coach Education Manager for Canada Basketball, Dawn Smyth spent in Ireland assisting BIC in the development of strategy and programmes we also conducted coaching clinics in Dublin (22 coaches present), UCC (30 students PE Teachers present), Cork (34 coaches present), Laois (26 coaches present) and Mayo (35 coaches present) resulting in 140 coaches attended over the course of the clinics. Bringing Dawn to grassroots coaches around the country was important.

President, Basketball Ireland, Mr. Gerry Kelly who officially opened the event in Cork on the Saturday was full of praise for Dawn and her work while here. He commended the work of the National Basketball Ireland Coaching Committee over the past number of years on the remarkable strides which the Committee has made in streamlining Coach Development throughout the country. The strength of the National Coaching Committee, he said, was in its ability to keep abreast of new methods and approaches to Coach Development while always being active to include all sectors of the Sport in its research and delivery of new concepts and initiatives. The visit of Dawn Smyth he believes emphasises this point and that working with Ciaran O’Sullivan, BI Development Officer in the Cork Region and the other 2 BI Development Officers in Dublin and Galway Programme Development and Delivery can only improve. The President emphasised his congratulations to Ciaran O’Sullivan on his initiative in securing the services of one of the World’s leading Coaches to Ireland and the Coaching Committee for grasping the opportunity to develop further our Coaching links with the Canadian Coaching Federation.

Dawn also spent a day with National Team Coaches and some High Performance players and we discussed numerous issues that we could focus on for development.

Through our discussions with Dawn, BIC is looking at reviewing its policies and strategies for development. This input was invaluable. Dawn pointed out that despite the fact that we have written numerous policies and programmes, unfortunately, we have failed to implement enough of them and this has led us to look at the issues from our point of view as to why we are failing to implement such measures.

Not only was her knowledge, experience and presentation skills key to the success of the visit for Basketball Ireland but Dawn’s personality was a  major factor to the positivity that has been expressed by many with regards to her visit. She interacted with all who coaches who spoke to her. She helped create a bigger interest in the work our committee does and the feedback from those who came to the clinics has been fantastic.

BIC committee Chairperson, Francis O’Sullivan expressed his delight at the success of the visit. “We have started a process here that while hugely positive for us as a sport also highlighted the flaws in the process but we have now been given a road map to find a way to overcome these issues”. O’Sullivan also added,” The positivity and results that came from Dawn’s work will be felt for a long time here, we need to continue to build on and engage with those who want to be part of the process of developing the game here”

Once again, a big thank you to all those who helped us and allowed for this event to take place, there are too many to mention but we would personally like to wish Dawn the best in the future and extend a big thank you to Canada Basketball for sharing their resources and expertise with us.