Coach brings lot of experience to bear with intention to develop enthusiast young talent at the Dolphins
NEW Dolphins coach Sam Gruggen will bring an impressive coaching resume to the NBL1 North club after being appointed to the role.
An assistant at the Taipans for the past few NBL seasons, Gruggen brings a decade of experience in highlevel basketball systems to his role nurturing the young talent coming through Cairns Basketball.
Before arriving in Cairns, he was the head coach of high performance for Basketball NSW, south state performance manager for Basketball Queensland and south development officer for Basketball Tasmania.
He has been involved in NBL coaching circles for the better part of a decade with stints at Townsville, the Kings and the Taipans, the last two stops under Adam Forde.
Last off-season, he was also part of the staff for the under-17 Australian Crocs at the 2022 FIBA World Cup.
“It’s always fantastic to take the leap from assistant coach to head coach, I’m very excited to coach the Dolphins,” Gruggen said.
“They have a good group of core players returning and some exciting players coming in. It’s a great community, and a great club.”
Gruggen replaces Myra Donkin as coach, though after two years juggling roles Donkin, a decade-long Dolphin, will remain as a player, where she will help nurture and develop the young talents coming through the system.
“This year, it’s a massive relief that I can just focus on playing and contributing to the group in the best way I can with my ever-increasing age (experience),” she said.
“The special thing for me is I coached a lot of them in under-12s and stuff, so I’ve really seen their journey to this adult game. It’s a privilege to be part of the journey, help them grow and give back to the game like people have done before me.”
Cairns starts its NBL1 North season in Townsville on March 26.