Krumesh Patel will be rejoining his hometown Club as the head coach for the WBBL Riders team and the Loughborough University 1st Team on a three-year Contract.
Patel has spent the last two years in Sweden as the head coach of the Wetterbygden Sparks. Prior to his stint in Sweden he played a major role in the Riders organisation. After graduating from the University of Leeds, Patel spent nine years at the club starting as a community coach, Head of Academy and then the Head Coach for the WBBL team. In 2018-19 Patel led the WBBL, WEABL and U18 youth programs to a 48-6 record, winning many National Championships including the WBBL Trophy and WEABL.
On his return to the Riders and journey over the last two years, Patel commented:
“I’m Excited to come back home, it’s been a great couple of years in Sweden! I was able to experience a new style of play against some good teams and coaches so it was a great move and allowed growth. I also had the privilege to meet and work with some really good people which am grateful for and will continue to build on those connections and relationships.”
“A chance presented itself to come back, and the timing was right with other factors falling in line to allow this opportunity to occur.”
“After speaking with Russell, the opportunity to comeback to help move the program forwards and build towards Europe in the long term was extremely appealing!”
Patel finished saying “to be back in my hometown around familiar faces, friends and family is a great feeling.”
Managing Director of the Leicester Riders, Russell Levenston Commented:
“It is great to have Krumesh return to the club. He was instrumental in building our Women’s programme and we look forward to him returning to take the programme to the next level. He is a very experienced coach who knows our club really well and I believe he is the right person to lead the Riders Women’s programme over the next three years.”
“He has gained some really valuable experience over the last few years while coaching in Sweden and I believe we are getting an even better coach than when he left two years ago. We both have similar ambitions for the Women’s programme both on and off the court”
Patel’s immediate focus will be to look at recruitment for the 2022-23 season and utilise the off-season months to build the Women’s programme ready for pre-season training starting in August.
