Sport Dream Academy (SDA) is excited to announce its upcoming webinar on ‘Playing Hoops in the USA’. This talk aims to demystify the basketball scholarship process for the Irish basketball community and help both athletes and parents understand the reality of playing basketball in the United States.

The webinar will take place on Wednesday, March 22^nd at 8 pm and will be run by SDA Founder Dr Paul Cummins.

Formerly an NCAA Division-1 Scholarship athlete with Lafayette College and a former Irish International, Paul is in a prime position to support others in this process. Through his own extensive experience, Paul can provide parents with unique insights into the pros and cons of playing basketball in the American collegiate system, and offer invaluable advice on how to make this dream come true.

Paul will be joined by Johns Hopkins University Men’s Basketball Head Coach Josh Loeffler.

Josh was named head men’s basketball coach at Johns Hopkins in 2017 and led one of the most successful first seasons in Hopkins and Centennial Conference history. Loeffler is the first coach in conference history to guide his team to the tournament title, and the first to earn CC Coach of the Year honours in his first season. Before joining Johns Hopkins, Coach Loeffler enjoyed an extensive and successful coaching career within NCAA Men’s Basketball, including top programs such as Rutgers, Lafayette, and Loyola Maryland.

Additionally, Paul and Josh will be joined by three NCAA graduates and current professional and Irish International players: John Carroll, Edel Thornton, and Sean Flood.

John attended the SDA camp before progressing to the States where he played college ball at NCAA Division-1 Hartford University.

Edel is the current Irish Senior Women’s team captain and played college ball at NCAA Division-1 Quinnipiac University.

Sean is another former SDA camp attendee who ventured to the States, playing college ball at NCAA Division-1 Longwood State University.

All three athletes are some of the brightest Irish basketball stars in the game today and are uniquely positioned to share their collective experience of pursuing their basketball ambitions in the USA.

The webinar will commence with a brief presentation by Paul, designed to assist parents considering sending a child to the States and players who wish to go in the future. Following this, Paul will interview the panel about their experiences. The presentation and panel discussion will run for approximately one hour before the webinar concludes with a Q&A session.

Webinar attendees will not appear on screen but can type questions at any point during the presentation. We will respond to as many of these questions as possible during the closing Q&A section.

To attend the webinar you must register your interest and we will send you a Google Meet link via email. Please check your email spam folder if you do not receive the webinar link as it may be in there!

 

Edel Thornton

John Carroll

Sean Flood

 

 

In Sport,

The SDA Team