Macedon Ranges basketball players have a rare opportunity to learn from one of the best with a newly announced Lanard Copeland Next Gen Basketball Academy.
Copeland is an American-Australian professional basketball coach and former player who moved to Australia in 1992 and joined the Melbourne Tigers.
Copeland’s legacy in this country has been secured with enshrinement in the Australian Basketball Hall Of Fame.
More recently he has been coaching local kids in Gisborne for a couple of years with great success.
“This is a morning program that we started two or three years ago and we’ve seen such success with some of the players,” he said.
“I coach in the AABL (All Australian Basketball League), which is a league that we started at MSAC (Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre), and we won the championship with a couple of my guys here.
“We’ve got a couple of guys going off to college in the States and the younger kids have gone on to make teams where they were struggling earlier.
“A lot of that is because we’ve put the work in.
“I’ve played for 30-plus years, so I know that if you put that extra work in, it shows.
“When you see championship wins, and you see guys going off to college, and you see players excited about making teams, it means obviously what we’re doing is working, so that’s what I’m excited about.”
Program coordinator Lisa Peavey said the academy was open to any aspiring basketball players in the Macedon Ranges.
“Lanard is fantastic with the kids, they all love him,” she said.
Of the kids Copeland has been coaching, Hayden Brown has gone to Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire on a partial basketball scholarship, Logan Peavey and Alek Babic played on Copeland’s team in the AABL league and won the championship with Logan also winning the final’s Most Valuable Player, Tom McPhee is currently in the USA exploring college opportunities and brothers Cameron and Travis Ralph have made the Sunbury Jets VJBL team after attending the morning programs.
The program focuses on the key skill areas shooting, ball handling, defence, game strategy and fitness, also confidence building, teamwork and leadership skills.
The program runs on Monday and Friday mornings from 6am to 7am at the Gisborne Secondary College with the potential for Wednesdays to be included.
The program is sponsored by BLS Steel Creations, and supported by Gisborne Bulldogs Basketball Club.
Spaces are limited and registrations are now open for term one, which begins Monday February 3.
For more information or to register, contact Lisa Peavey 0411 287 399 or email secretary.gbbc@gmail.com
