Portsmouth Force announce new men's division 3 coach Craig Hughes

The News, Portsmouth

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00:01Right, so we're here today to speak about the new head coach of Portsmouth Force.

00:07Yeah, so obviously Daniel had the reins for the last few years, but how difficult has the search been and how's it going?

00:15The search was really interesting. I didn't realise how popular the job would be and how many applications we had.

00:21We had applications from as well as Australia.

00:24He had a Spanish National League coach who wanted to move his whole family over to Portsmouth to become a coach here, which is amazing.

00:31Obviously, we couldn't possibly do it on the budget that we have at the moment and the infrastructure,

00:36but it just goes to show how big the basketball club is to see from the outside and how much we've grown in the few years we've been going.

00:43Yeah, perfect. Obviously, yeah, I'm Bill Craven. How did that come about?

00:50We had 24 applications in total. Some of them, like I said, were just impossible.

00:56We had some really high quality individuals, both locally and in the near local area, who were up for coming on board.

01:03Craig's obviously coached with us for many years and been part of the club.

01:07And he's also the lead coach here on our new BTEC, which kicks off at Portsmouth College in September.

01:14And one of the things we had in Div3 last year, there was a standout team who actually ended up winning the playoffs poorly.

01:21And their model was based around the college programme, providing youth players a chance to play in Div3.

01:27And that model worked and it's tried and tested around the country, where the head coach of the basketball team is also key in recruitment,

01:34trying to get young people into the sport. And so Craig was taking on that role.

01:38He's also a brilliant coach. He's got so much passion for basketball, so much passion for Portsmouth itself and the city.

01:46And he's done projects all over for many years, as we'll be able to tell you about, as we know.

01:52So it seemed like a logical fit. We did interviews.

01:55And when we sat down with Craig, Chris, co-chairman and I, when we walked away,

01:59we kind of had a little look at each other and thought, you know, is the solution right under our noses?

02:04And yeah, here he is.

02:06Are you excited to get started?

02:07Really, really excited. We've had one training session already.

02:10Started looking at assistant coaches, good meeting with players, talking about last season,

02:14expectations and plans for next season.

02:17But not just for the men's team, also looking at how the men's team can ripple down and affect our junior players as well

02:23and the benefits of those guys in the next few years as well.

02:26So once it all kind of comes together and what kind of what it is that I have planned,

02:30yeah, I just can't wait to get started, really.

02:33So obviously you've been involved in Portsmouth before.

02:35Yeah.

02:36So kind of is there things you've kind of already earmarked?

02:38What's kind of the first things you want to do differently?

02:41Yeah, absolutely. I mean, for the junior programme, which I've been working with,

02:44the under-12 team for the past two years, I felt like I made some really good headway.

02:49But just with that team, so what I feel like has worked, I'd like to share most of the junior programme,

02:54but also that it translates to the men's as well.

02:57And obviously comparing the kids to the men's is two different sides of the game.

03:01However, I want to get the kids more actively involved with the men's team as well,

03:04so they can kind of see what the expectation is of those guys as they get to late teens and into adulthood as well.

03:10Yeah, absolutely.

03:12Yeah, obviously the aims of this season, I presume, are still to go up.

03:18How achievable do you think that is?

03:20I mean, like Rob has already touched on me,

03:22we've been knocking on the door for the last couple of years.

03:24Just based on how I kind of like to play, I feel like it's a free-flowing type of basketball,

03:29which I think the guys would really, really benefit from.

03:32But it establishes a club culture and a club style as well.

03:37And I don't think it's too difficult to implement as well.

03:40And already I've been going over some of the game take from last year,

03:44and I feel like there's a few things that we can already implement.

03:46I've already sat down with the team captain from last year,

03:48and we've kind of bounced a few ideas.

03:50And based on the players that want to implement and what it is,

03:54they felt like maybe they could have been introduced last year.

03:57I feel like we're in a good place already and we're already in the pre-season.

04:00So, yeah, I'm really confident that we can really, really push on this year.

04:05Yeah, obviously it's probably quite difficult as well in terms of how many players

04:09do you know are committed to next year at the moment?

04:11Have you still kind of got that core together?

04:13Yeah, we've got a decent core.

04:15And then some guys who really want to be,

04:17they're excited to actually come to Portsmouth and play.

04:20So I feel like numbers-wise we're going to be really healthy.

04:23And for the guys that are going to be staying,

04:25I know pretty much all of them anyway.

04:27And I don't think I need to make too many introductions,

04:29so we can kind of just get the ground running straight away.

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