Hello to all the Riders fans!
First, let me say that it’s a privilege to be a head coach in this historic club, and I can’t wait to get started.
It’s been a bit of a whirlwind process. I was expecting to stay with Solent for another season, but this was too good of an opportunity to pass up and something I’m thrilled to be doing.
Watching from a distance, this club looked like a great environment where everyone got on. I spoke to Ashley Arlen, who I’ve known since her Nottingham days, and she said this was a great group.
I’ve heard similar things from everyone I speak to. That’s really exciting, and of course, this was a very competitive team last year.
This year, we’re going to be trying to figure out who we are and what our goals are. In the short term we’re going to be focussing on our character and culture.
We still want to win, that’s massively important to me and the club, but we also want to establish who we are as a team.
In the long term we want to be highly competitive in the WBBL. We want to continue to make finals and win things.
It’s essential to me to build a strong culture within this team. Culture is led by the coach, but ultimately it comes from the players. I can guarantee we’ll play hard and play together.
In my role as women’s coach it’s very important to me that the players get the respect that the men get.
They work as hard and they are just as knowledgeable, so it’s very important to me that we grow the women’s game.
I would love to be in a position where we are close to selling out the arena every game. That would be huge for us. That comes from having the right character of players throughout the programme, from juniors to pros.
That includes everything on the court and everything we do in the community as well. I’ll be out there doing everything I can, and the players will support that too.
I’m also delighted to begin my role as Loughborough BUCS head coach!
I played for Brunel just as our rivalry with Loughborough was coming to a close, so it’ll be a little weird having the purple on me for the first couple of games!
But I’m extremely excited about it, and to be a part of that programme with a storied history is something I’m looking forward to.
I can’t wait to get to know the fans! Please come out and support the girls, we’ll have a great on-court product for you next year and I know we’re going to have great people that will be great examples for the youth of Leicester and Loughborough.
I’m looking forward to meeting you all!
Ben Stanley
