After three weeks as an assistant coach for the Australian Crocs at the FIBA Under-17 World Cup, Ballarat’s Nathan Cooper-Brown has returned from Argentina hungry for more international opportunities.
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Cooper-Brown’s role included cutting film, putting together scouting reports and dissecting the game.
One of the biggest eye-openers for the Ballarat Miners head coach was seeing how mistakes players could get away with at South East Australian Basketball League level could be costly on the world stage.
“Our aggregate for our three losses was 10 points and two of our wins were by two points,” he said. “Every game we were in was intense, it was close and as much as you enjoy that as a coach, it definitely was taxing.”
With dreams of one day coaching at the highest level, Cooper-Brown said the experience was everything he wanted it to be in terms of a learning environment.
“I felt like it was the perfect balance of me being able to contribute with my passion, experience and knowledge, while being challenged and learning what international basketball is about and how to best help the coaching staff and athletes,” he said.
“One of the things I hope to take away from this experience is continuing to energise our elite athletes in our community to want to pursue the green and gold.”
Ballarat will again be represented in the Australian team when the Sapphires start their FIBA Under-17 World Cup campaign on Sunday, July 22, with Georgia Amoore making selection.
Cooper-Brown described Amoore as the poster child of hard work paying off.
