Camberwell District Basketball Association is excited to announce they have signed their Head Coaches for the Big V 2014 season. Kevin ‘Vulture’ Anstey returns to the Dragons lair as the Head Coach for the Division One Men. Brian Vaughns returns to lead the Division One Women. Ezra Kumar is given his first Head Coaching opportunity with the Youth League Division One Men after two years of being an assistant coach behind the outgoing Julian Fields.

Division One Men – Kevin Anstey

Camberwell would like to welcome Kevin back to the Dragons after a year out of the game. He is looking forward to starting a new chapter in his sporting career, embarking on what will hopefully be a long coaching journey. The club is very excited to appoint Kevin as the Head Coach of the men’s Big V program. Although his coaching experience is limited; his playing career is somewhat impressive. Kevin trained with the former NBL club the Victorian Titans from 1998 until 2000 and has played with BigV clubs Diamond Valley, Whittlesea Pacers and Camberwell Dragons. He won many awards over his long career including Rookie of the Year, Leading Scorer, All-Star Centre twice in 1999 & 2011 and League MVP are only some of his highlights. Kevin will draw from his extensive playing experience and the knowledge obtained from his past coaches Alan Westover, Brian Goorjian, Brian Vaughns, Simon Mitchell and brother Chris Anstey to guide the 2014 Men into a strong year.

Whilst coaching his former teammates Mark Jeffers, Liam Dobson and Julian Fields is an unusual for the majority of coaches, Kevin is excited for the challenge and is looking forward to it. He aspires to add stability and a strong connection back between the senior teams and the Camberwell junior program. He will work closely with Ezra Kumar and the Youth League Men’s team to ensure players continue their basketball growth and reach their full potential as players. As a proud former player and Captain of the Dragons, he is honoured to be given this opportunity to be a part of the continued growth and development of what he considers a fantastic and thriving basketball club.

Welcome back Vulture.

Division One Women – Brian Vaughns

“Coach of the Year 2013”, Brian Vaughns has signed back on for season 2014. In his third year with the Dragons, Brian will be looking to continue the hard work the women put in and showed in 2013. Narrowly missing the finals series, Brian is very excited about season 2014, believing if the team works hard and plays together they will be rewarded. It has been an amazing journey he has had with the women’s program after taking hold of the program two years ago. They have moved from Division Two into Division One, and nobody picked them to feature so high on the ladder for season 2013. We are very excited to have Brian back for his 3^rd year and looking forward to what will be a great year in 2014 for the Women’s team.

Youth League Division One Men – Ezra Kumar

After developing as an assistant coach for two years under former Head Coach Julian Fields, the Camberwell Dragons would like to congratulate Ezra Kumar for being promoted to the Head Coaching role of the Youth League Division One Men’s team for 2014. Ezra has been involved in the senior program for over five years as a player and assistant coach but has now been given an opportunity to step up to be the Head Coach for the successful Youth League team. After winning the championship in their first year in the league, the 2013 champions have been promoted to Division One. This is an amazing achievement for the team and club as they will be looking to continue to grow and develop under its new leader, who has aspirations of being successful for another year. After being heavily involved in the VJBL U18 and U20 boys programs for over four years, Ezra has witnessed firsthand the talent that the Dragons are producing, to which he is extremely eager to work with. Ezra is very excited to work alongside Kevin and the Div 1 team and assist his Youth players in making the step into the Senior team in future years.

In what will be Ezra’s tenth year at the club, he is excited to be joined by Justin Boyd (also in his tenth year) who will be the teams’ assistant coach. Justin himself is the current under 18’s boys coach, which will give Ezra a good insight into the juniors who will be making the jump to be a part of what will hopefully be a successful campaign.

We would like to thank out going Head Coaches Julian Fields and Damon Lowery for their hard work they put in over 2013. Julian will be back playing for the Dragons in the Men’s team and Damon has been given a great opportunity at Dandenong, we wish both coaches all the best for 2014.

Camberwell Dragons are very excited about season 2014 and look forward to a successful season, if you would like to be a part of the Dragon family then please come along to our club tryouts in late October & November.

Tryouts Big V 2014

Teams: D1M | D1W | D1YLM

Dates: 20^th October & 27^th October & 17^th November 2013

Time: 2.00pm – 4.00pm

Venue: Balwyn High School

All enquires for any senior team are to be sent to Ezra: ezra.j.k@gmail.com