BACCHUS MARSH LIONS APPOINT HEAD OF PLAYER & COACH DEVELOPMENT

Bacchus Marsh Basketball is excited to announce the appointment of Brant Lowry as Head of Player & Coach Development, a new role created to lead the long-term basketball strategy and development pathway of the Lions program.

Brant brings more than two decades of experience coaching and developing players across boys’ and girls’ basketball, from junior development through to senior programs. Throughout his coaching career, his teams have consistently competed at high levels of Victorian junior basketball, while his focus has increasingly shifted from individual team success towards the long-term development of players, coaches and basketball programs.

In this new role, Brant will lead the development of a whole association basketball philosophy and pathway, connecting the club’s youngest domestic players through junior representative basketball and, ultimately, into senior basketball.
Working alongside Director of Coaching Jayden Geary, the Lions’ coaching group and the committee, Brant will develop the strategy and framework that underpins how basketball is taught across the club. This will include player skill development, consistent concepts and terminology, decision-making, team structure and style of play, alongside the development, education and support of coaches.

The long-term objective is to raise the standard of basketball across Bacchus Marsh, create greater consistency between teams and age groups, and establish a pathway where local players and coaches can pursue their basketball ambitions without feeling they need to leave the association to continue their development.

Brant said the opportunity to build something sustainable across an entire basketball community was what attracted him to the role.

“I’ve spent more than two decades coaching and throughout that time I’ve always been searching for what I would call ‘best practice’ — the best way we can teach the game, improve players and develop coaches. I don’t think you ever completely arrive at that because basketball continues to evolve, but the challenge is to keep learning, questioning what we do and continually trying to get closer to it.”

“That’s what excites me about this role. We have an opportunity to take those ideas and build a consistent approach across an entire basketball pathway. A player entering basketball at Bacchus Marsh should be able to build on what they’ve already learned as they move from one coach, team and level to the next, with our coaches developing and evolving alongside them.”

“If we do that well, we develop better players, stronger coaches and successful teams. We give our best local players every reason to stay at Bacchus Marsh because they trust the pathway and believe they can achieve their basketball goals here. Longer term, we want Bacchus Marsh to be a destination that players, coaches and families across Melbourne’s west actively choose because of the standard of basketball development we provide.”
The appointment represents an important step in the Lions’ long-term ambition to establish Bacchus Marsh as one of the premier basketball development destinations in Melbourne’s west by consistently developing and retaining talented players and coaches, competing at higher levels and providing a pathway from grassroots basketball through to the senior game.

Please join us in welcoming Brant to the Lions and an exciting new chapter for basketball development at Bacchus Marsh.