You are into your second year of your coaching role with Evolution Sports Qatar now, how did that initially come about?

I heard about the role through a friend who I have known and played basketball with for many years. He put me in touch with the right people so that I could find out more. When I had more details, I realised it was something I wanted to pursue.

What is the role and your responsibilities?

We provide basketball training sessions for 250 children from as young as three years old, as well as adults. The main part of my role is delivering coaching sessions and providing games for all our players. Everything else that goes along with the program could range from launching and ensuring the sustainability of new initiatives, providing player development plans, skills testing, organising tournaments, school and community outreach and social media, amongst other things!

What do you do in a typical day?

I wouldn’t describe any day as a typical day, but I tend to have my coaching hat on from 2:00pm till late, and before that I usually set up in the office and get on with admin and planning work.

How did you find adjusting to living in Qatar?

I feel that you just need to be considerate of where you are and having a basic understanding of the religion and culture is enough to ensure you are not causing any offence to the local Qatari’s. Communication can sometimes be a challenge. Considering the range of different nationalities here, it can be difficult understanding each other from time to time. Arabic lessons are still on the to do list. The support from colleagues since I arrived has been great and they helped me settle into the way of life out here pretty quick.

What is the Basketball culture like in Qatar?

It is very different from what I was used to in the UK. There are no governing bodies, no leagues in place and not a huge amount of competition opportunities for players across the country. We are doing our best to change this, and we pride ourselves in being able to provide regular competition for all of our players regardless of their ability, age and gender. The introduction of a few new basketball clubs across the country has helped with this, it gives us regular opponents and different venues to use. I feel like there are more and more kids and adults showing an interest in the sport and participation is growing! At the end of the day, the players need regular competition to support and further their development.

Are there competitive leagues there?

The only professional league is the Qatar Basketball Federation. It has youth and men’s leagues, but unfortunately, as a private sports academy we are not eligible to enter these league due to the strict rules and regulations set by the Federation. To ensure the locals benefit from the league the majority of the players involved in the QBF are Qatari.

Have you seen any QFB games?

I have only watched one pro match since moving here and that was an exhibition game to celebrate the retirement and career of one of Qatar’s most decorated players, Yaseen Musa Ismail. QFB team Al Rayyan Club played against the famous Globalport team from the Philippines. It took place in one of the big arenas and they made it into a big show and the crowd was pretty big, partly due to the large Filipino community here in Qatar coming out to support their countrymen. Regular season QFB league games don’t tend to have much of a crowd from what I have heard and the standard is probably similar to what you would expect to see in the EBL D1.

Do you still train/play regularly?

Private organisations do run occasional tournaments that anyone can enter teams into. I was part of the team that won the Aspire League last spring, but other than that I don’t get as much time to play or train as I would like due to my coaching commitments.

Its been a few years since you played in the Somerset league, have you missed it?

I do really miss playing with Wells Warriors in the Somerset league. It was a lot of fun and I have a lot of fond memories from the seasons I spent with the team. I was disappointed to hear that they had not put a team in this year. I know that the people pulling the strings at the club have found it very challenging to get players to commit to the team in recent years and therefore finding it hard to fund. I am sure that Men’s basketball in Wells will come back one day, there are still plenty of children involved in the sport there.

How is the coaching there different to what you've experienced in the UK?

One massive benefit of working with Evolution Sports is that I work alongside so many like-minded coaches from many different sports, meaning there is always the opportunity to share new ideas and methods of coaching.

I have learnt a huge amount since moving out here and I continue to improve and develop as a coach on a daily basis. The coaching is fairly different from the UK mainly due to the standard, lack of organised competition and league structure and the demands of working for a professional club.

Do you have any success stories?

With Qatar being a very transient place, we have players coming and going all the time so we don’t always get a huge amount of time with the same groups/players but so far this season we have had three of our teams winning medals at the most recent tournament we entered into. We have also had players that have left us, and been able to use their basketball experience and ability to get into schools/colleges in many different countries.

What is Doha like?

Doha is a nice place that is rapidly developing, meaning there is more and more to do here. I enjoy living here and find there are plenty of things to do and experience that I wouldn't be able to back in England. For example, I have been camping in the desert, taken a boat to sea a bunch of times and make the most of the heat at the beaches all year round!

The climate is pretty extreme, I think the highest temperature I have experienced so far was 49 degrees! When this is the case, I am glad basketball is an indoor sport and that the air-conditioning can take care of my players and me. During the winter months it becomes much more comfortable and during the evenings you even need a jacket to keep warm. In the year and a half that I have been here, it has only rained about five times!

You did some travelling in the Summer, where did you go?

I was very fortunate to be able to visit some great places in the summer including Dubai, Paris, Ibiza and Malaga. I gained many great experiences in some countries that I hadn't visited before and met some awesome people along the way. Being able to travel during the end of term breaks is definitely one big benefit from having this job.

Any plans to return to UK and play for a team again?

I have never been one to look too far ahead, and I’m a strong believer of doing what feels right at the time but I must admit the thought of playing back in the UK does cross my mind from time to time. I enjoyed it so much, have a lot of great memories from all the teams that I played for, and would like to think that I will get to do it again. For now, I am really enjoying my time here in the Middle East and would like to think that I will be here for a few more seasons.

Thank you for taking the time to answer some questions, it’s been great hearing about what you’re doing now and learning about Qatar. Cheers!