Weldon appointed Irish women’s coach

KILLARNEY native James Weldon has been appointed the Head Coach of the Ireland Senior Women’s team. James will begin the appointment from January 1, 2019 and will coach the squad up until the conclusion of the 2020 FIBA Women’s European Championship for Small Countries.

Coach Weldon brings a wealth of experience to the role, and recently qualified as a certified FECC (FIBA Europe Coaching Certificate) coach. He has been involved with international level coaching on numerous occasions over the past number of years, including roles as head coach of the Irish Senior Women’s Select team (2012, 2013 and 2015), assistant coach to Hibernia Senior Men’s team (2015) and Head Coach of the Irish Under 18 women’s team (2005, 2007 and 2013).

As a player James captained St. Paul’s Killarney to a U-19 national cup title in 1995 and also won a division one senior national league that season. He also played superleague basketball with St. Paul’s for a number of years but he had already established himself as an outstanding coach from a young age. He coached the St. Paul’s ladies team through an impressive stint in the top flight in the early to mid 2000s before going on to enjoy incredible success with the all conquering University of Limerick Huskies Superleague and national cup winning team. He coached UL to ten national titles in four seasons and was honoured with the Irish Basketball coach of the year award on three different occasions. James also worked with the Kerry senior football team for the 2018 campaign.

Speaking about the news, the Killarney man stated: “I’m honoured that I have been afforded this opportunity by the EPC and the Women’s committee. My coaching team and I will do everything we can over the next year and a half to get the players up to the required levels for international basketball. Over the next few months we will be scouting the leagues, monitoring players and potential players abroad. It’s an exciting time to be involved with the team.”

Chair of the EPC and MNCC Bernard O’Byrne commented: “We are delighted to appoint James to this position and will do everything to support him in the role. We would like to thank the other candidates who applied for the position. The applications were of a very high standard which bodes well for the future of the women’s game.”

Chairperson of the WNLC, Breda Dick added: “We are delighted with the selection of James Weldon as the senior women’s coach. There was tough competition for the position but the panel was unanimous with their selection and the WNLC would like to wish him the very best with the role.”