Coach Harris Basketball

My name is John Harris and I got into basketball when I was around 10, right in the middle of the Jordan years in Chicago. I collected stickers, persuaded my dad to put up a makeshift backboard and ring on our garage, and lay on my bed shooting a plastic Utah Jazz basketball into a tiny hoop fixed to the back of my bedroom door. A second Jordan retirement later and basketball in the UK became marginalized again and difficult to follow to the casual fan. My interest in basketball faded and I picked up football as my sport of choice.

Now at 24, I find myself back in basketball, having started playing again at University four years ago. As I regained my passion for the game, I decided to expand my involvement and became an Assistant Coach with the University’s Women’s team. A couple of games into the season the Head Coach decided that the role was not for him and left the team. I inherited the position and was thrown in at the deep end as we participated in BUSA (National University League, Division 2) for the first time in several years. In the first year, we went undefeated in BUSA and were promoted to Division 1. Our second season was initially marred by several very close (1pt, 2pts) away losses and we slipped to 1-4 in danger of relegation back to the 2nd Division. However we turned our season around and finished 5-5 having beaten all but one of the other teams in the league.

I decided to step down at the end of the 2008-09 season having taken the team as far as I thought I could. Several key players were also moving on and I had the opportunity to become an assistant coach for the Men’s team as they begun their journey into the National Founders Cup.

After nine months of varied success with the Men’s team (relegation in BUCS but advancement to the quarter finals of the Founders Cup) I rejoined the Women’s team as Head Coach to see out their remaining local league fixtures after a poor BUCS season which saw them finish winless. Performances have improved and it has been encouraging to conclude the season with a strong run (5-1) in the local league to keep spirits high going into the off-season.

Coach John Harris