Ipswich Basketball is saying goodbye to three fantastic servants to the clubs coaching staff this summer.
Coaches John Ellis, Noel Lambert and Hayley Rigby, are all stepping away from their roles at Head Coaches at the club after a number of successful years leading teams.
Coach Noel Lambert has been with the club for the best part of the last decade, coaching teams within our boys programme at various levels from u13’s up to u18’s. Noel has helped developed some fantastic young players and his track record of leading teams to deep playoff runs speaks for itself. The highlight of Coach Lamberts time is surely the fantastic 2014/2015 season in which he lead an Ipswich u13 boys team, including youngsters such as Veron Eze, Ethan Price, Troy Huggins and Danny Manning, to an undefeated regular season and on to the Final Four in Sheffield.
Coach Hayley Rigby has been a long standing member of the club, first as a player and more recently as a coach. During Hayley’s time as a coach at IBC she has enjoyed phenomenal success. Hayley led the u16 Girls to National Cup success in 2017/2018, becoming the first Ipswich junior women’s coach to win a national title in nearly two decades. That same year she also took the u16 girls to the Final Four, where the team eventually finished third.
Coach John Ellis spent two seasons as the Assistant Coach with our Senior Men, before taking the helm in 2017. Coach Ellis led the team through the difficult transition following the departure of not only the teams long standing Head Coach, but also the loss of several top tier players. The highlight of Coach Ellis’s time as Senior Men’s Head Coach was in February 2019 when he guided the team to the Patrons Cup Final, eventually losing at the UEL to Westminster Warriors.
Ipswich Basketball Club Head Coach Nick Drane had this to say about the three departing coaches “Ipswich Basketball Club is built on the good grace, skill and sacrifice made by our volunteers. Hayley, Noel and John have all be essential to the growth of the club and will be very difficult to replace – we can’t thank them enough for their contribution to this great club”.
The club has begun recruitment for new coaches, please click the below link for more information.
An announcement regarding the Senior Men's Head Coaching position will be made in the coming days.
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