SDA Provides An Elite Coaching Experience

Effective coaches can make a huge difference to athlete development through their ability to communicate expert knowledge, to draw from elite experience and to motivate and inspire athletes to make the most of their potential. Effective coaches know that practice is never enough, and that ‘perfect practice’ through deliberate drills are required to really make strides. SDA prides itself on providing top coaching at every level and draws on elite coaching experience from national and International sources.

Just some of the Elite SDA Coaches include:

Drew Dawson (USA)

With over a decade of coaching experience in college, prep school and internationally, Coach Dawson has acquired significant experience including program development, player development, entrepreneurship, and sports technology. A former NCAA Division 1 player and coach, Drew Dawson is currently the Head Coach at Choate Academy prep school where just in the last two years six of his former players have earned scholarships to several of the nation’s top academic conferences including the ACC, Ivy and Patriot Leagues, NE-10 and NECSAC, among others.

Raphael Chillious (USA)

A former NCAA Division 1 player and coach, Raphael Chillious is currently the Director of Basketball and Head Coach of prep school powerhouse South Kent School. Coach Chillious has a proven track record of recruiting and developing high performance talent, with 17 of those players making it to the NBA, including South Kent alumni Jack McClinton ’04, Dorell Wright ’04, Andre Blatche ’05, Isaiah Thomas ’08, and Dion Waiters ’10. He also coached Josh Boone and recruited/developed #1 draft pick Markelle Fultz, Dejounte Murray, Terrence Ross, Marquise Chriss, Quincy Pondexter, CJ Wilcox, Matisse Thybulle, Ryan Archidiacano, Darrun Hillard, and Justin Holliday as a collegiate assistant coach.

Niall Berry (IRE)

Niall Berry is the Co-Owner and Program Director of HOOPSLife Ireland and is the Head Women’s Basketball Coach at Trinity Meteors. Niall has a wealth of experience in effective player development, coaching at the International level and coaching at the Irish Superleague level. Niall brings passion and commitment to SDA and his knowledge of the game is invaluable to SDA athletes.

Lawrence ‘Puff’ Summers (IRE)

Former NCAA Division 1 point guard Puff Summers enjoyed a successful professional career in Ireland before turning his attention to player development and coaching. Founder of Why Not Me Hoops, Puff is an excellent guard coach who passionately believes in hard work and dedication to unleash the potential of every athlete he works with. Puff brings a huge wealth of experience as a player and a coach and prides himself on motivating Irish student-athletes to be the best they can be on a daily basis.

Fran O’Hanlon (USA)

NCAA Division 1 legend Fran O’Hanlon coached 27 seasons as the head coach of the Lafayette basketball program. He is the longest tenured coach in the Patriot League, and has won three Patriot League regular-season titles, been named conference Coach of the Year on four occasions, and has taken the Leopards to the NCAA Tournament three times. The native of Philadelphia holds the record for games coached in the Patriot League. One of just five head coaches to direct the same Division I program since the start of the 1995-96 season along with Jim Boeheim of Syracuse, Mike Krzyzewski of Duke, Bob McKillop of Davidson, and Tom Izzo of Michigan State, O’Hanlon has coached over 780 games for the Maroon and White. Coach O’Hanlon recruited and coached SDA Founder Paul Cummins between 2004-2008.

Pete Schwethelm (USA)

Pete is a former Georgia Tech and Lafayette College basketball coach who now runs a program called ‘Academic Recruits’ which helps intelligent, talented athletes get recruited by College-level coaches in the USA.

Casey Stevenson (USA)

Casey Stevenson grew up in Raleigh, NC bleeding the blue and white of Duke basketball. He attended Ravenscroft High where he had an outstanding career as a top-scoring shooting guard. After a successful high-school career Casey earned a practice player role on the famed Duke University Men’s Basketball team.While at Duke, Casey trained with current professionals like Kyrie Irving, Mason and Miles Plumlee, Austin Rivers, and Ryan Kelly, among many others.

Orla O’Reilly (IRE)

Orla is one of Ireland top womens basketball players. The Cork native played professionally on mainland Europe for the last year, whilst based in Murcia, Spain, where she played under coach Chiqui Barros. Orla also represented Ireland in the first ever 3v3 ladies tournament at the Baku 2015 games.

Matt Hall (IRE)

Matt is a senior technical officer for Basketball Ireland with huge experience as both a basketball player and basketball coach. Matt has increased the level of coaching and skill development in Ireland through his passion and work ethic around the game.

Mairead McNally (IRE)

Played in 30 career games for Ireland at the European Under 16 and Under 20 Championships. Mairead played club basketball for Ulster Rockets and Belfast Star. Played her first two seasons at Northeast Community College in Norfolk, Nebraska she helped lead Head Coach Matt Svelha and the Hawks to a 51-13 record and two conference championships. After that she attended Stetson University. McNally is the first woman from Northern Ireland ever to play NCAA Division I women’s basketball.

Jim Sollars (USA)

Jim is the head coach of the women’s basketball team at the University of Portland. Jim has a wealth of experience and knowledge of the game and had recorded his 250th career win back in 2003. A student of the game, outside of the court, Jim served as a History Professor and understands what it takes to succeed on the sports field and in the classroom.

Paul Kelleher (IRE)

Paul is a top Irish coach who has coached the Blue Demons Men’s super-league team and currently coaches the Irish U-16 boys team. Paul’s passion for the game is clear and he has vast experience coaching top camps in the USA.