Coach Discussion 
Raiders Under 18 Coach Caine Braddon on the 07/08 Season for his team

Last season was my first ever as a coach. I joined the Raiders Development Programme a few weeks after the season started when Dave Williams had to step down for personal reasons. I was a little worried at first about how it would go, but everyone has to start somewhere, and we had a great bunch of boys.

I used to play with the Raiders junior teams from 14 to 18 under Dave Briggs, so I knew what was required. I had the time of my life when I played, and there are things that I will never forget about those four years. It helped me develop so much as a person, not just a basketball player. I can honestly say that it changed my life and what I wanted to achieve. I wanted to be able to give some of this back to the Under 16s, to make sure that they enjoyed themselves and got as much out of the experience as I did when I was their age. Just as I'm able to do, I'd love them to be able look back in a few years and be able to say that they had a fantastic 4 years being a part of the Raiders. One of the unique things about the Raiders, its such a big organisation, but it still manages to keep a "family" closeness that I've never heard of in other clubs. As a player, you will learn so much more than just basketball skills, you learn some very important life skills and life lessons as well. You truly do get back as much as you put in yourself.

Although I had a lot of help with coaching last year, especially from Dave Briggs, Sean Stevens and Dave Williams, it was still a massive learning curve. I was exceptionally lucky to have such a wonderful group of players to work with as well as such a good support network within the club.

This season, as Dave steps down from coaching to concentrate on running the development programme, I will be coaching the Under 18 team. I'm extremely excited about this opportunity and have some high hopes for the coming season. We will have some decent height as a team, quick and srong guards, powerful forwards, and a tough defensive mentality. We have a great group of returning Under 18s, but also a strong group of Under 16s that are moving up because of the age restrictions. Most of these moving up got essential experience at the Under 18 level last year (both training and playing with the team), and that's definitely something I'd like to build on this year as well. It gives you a really good grounding and preparation for moving up when you have experience of playing at that level already.

I am looking forward to what I think could be an extremely successful season. We have a very good squad of players, and more importantly, players wo want to learn, who'll listen and who want to succeed. Fitness will be a big part of our pre season training, as well as something we work on a lot throughout the year, as I think it's something that tends to be taken for granted and ends up being most team's weakness.

With unbelievable support from the Raiders, parents, friends and other coaches, I believe this is going to be a very exciting year.