Sullivan's key role in sport's development
Leicester Riders forward Drew Sullivan has been appointed head coach of the Loughborough Basketball Programme.
The programme, now in its second year, sees the Riders join forces with Loughborough University, Loughborough College and Charnwood College to try and develop young British players into professional athletes.
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Sullivan will take over the role as head coach in parallel with playing for the Riders.
He will run four two-hour squad training sessions every week, and also set individual training schedules for the players.
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The 6 ft 5in forward, who captained the Team GB basketball side during London 2012, was delighted with the role.
"This is something that I really believe in," he said. "I want to help these guys get to the level I'm at and even go on to do bigger and better things.
"I've always said that if you are someone who has spent your whole career playing basketball, and then you don't pass that experience on, then that's hugely selfish."
"I want to make sure this isn't just treated as a university team but that we make it as close to a professional programme as possible.
"Some of the top young guys in Europe are already playing professionally at this age and maybe even younger. So I want to get them up to speed as soon as possible and give them an idea on what it's like to be a professional every day."
On the player front, Riders have recruited a number of players during the close-season. Americans Zaire Taylor, John Fraley and Jay Couisnard have joined alongside 6ft 8in Slovakian forward Pavol Losenky and Spanish guard Jorge Calvo.
However, it seems as though star forward Ayron Hardy will not be returning to be part of the Riders' British Basketball League campaign this season.
Riders head coach Rob Paternostro said he has all his players signed and, at the moment, Hardy is not one of them.
"I know Ayron's looking for a new challenge and we are going to try and help him out the best we can," he said. "Even if it's not with us, we still want the best for him.
"But the door is still open for a return at some point. I won't say he definitely won't be here this season because strange things can happen but I feel really good about my roster and we are done signing players at this moment."
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