The journey through the Wales national team programme ends with our two senior teams.
CJ Lee
I came to basketball after representing England & Great Britain as a martial artist. After a number of years coaching University basketball, and coaching at summer camps both here and abroad, I started my WNBL career in 1999. Since then I have coached county, regional, and national teams in both England and Wales. I’ve coached across Europe, developing my expertise domestically and internationally. Meeting other coaches internationally and tutoring domestically has kept me hungry for knowledge of the game.
I currently coach in the WNBL out of Southampton (Team Solent Kestrels) and for Solent University in the British University and College Sport Premier League.As part of the Wales NT programme I was an Assistant during the 2014 Small Countries European Championships in Austria with the senior women. In 2015 I was Head Coach for the Welsh U16s European Championships in Andorra. In 2016 I was Head Coach for Wales’ last appearance in a FIBA tournament [Gibraltar]. This was both a highlight for me – getting my first senior NT Head Coach appointment – but a disappointing tournament for the Welsh team.
In 2018 I was appointed as Assistant Coach to my long time colleague, Karen Burton, as we began to rebuild the senior programme. Before we could get into full swing, Karen stepped down, and I became the interim Head Coach, before being reappointed to the permanent role in September 2019.COVID-19 put pay to our programme development plans in 2020, but I remain convinced that there’s a lot of talent in Wales at both junior and senior talent, and the NT plays a vital role in both player development and performance level participation in Wales and Great Britain.
I can’t wait (but will) to get back on the practice floor as soon as it’s safe to do so.