OUR TEAM
DESIGNED AND BUILT IN IPSWICH
NICK DRANE
HEAD COACH AND FOUNDER OF PLAYGROUND2PRO
Nick is the founder of Playground2Pro and is one of the most respected and successful ‘Performance’ Basketball Coaches in the whole of the UK. A multiple time National Champion with Ipswich Basketball Club and Copleston Basketball Academy as well as an International Coach, having won a silver medal with the England u16’s in 2011 and one of the few coaches to have worked in Division A, at the 2014 u18 European Championships. Nick's pedigree at the elite level of basketball development is as good as anyone’s.
However, with well over twenty years of professional coaching experience, Nick is always quick to remind people that his coaching journey and passion for the game both started with introducing the game to beginners. Nick was born and raised in the Ipswich area, and takes great pride in leading the programme, from the beginners in the school playgrounds to professionals in his team and those who have graduated his programme. Nick continues to lead many of the sessions himself, with a particular eye on Talent Identification and the ‘Elite’ element of the programme.
Nick was named the 2023 Basketball England National Coach of the Year Award. The highest individual honour a coach can receive in the UK.
HARRIET WELHAM
ELITE SKILLS SESSIONS COACH
Harriet Welham needs no introduction to young players of all ages and abilities in the Ipswich area. The Ipswich Basketball Club Senior Women’s Captain, the three-time WNBL Division One MVP and an eight time National Champion as a player with the Suffolk Club.
However, it is Harriet’s coaching that see’s her have the most impact with Playground2Pro. Harriet leads the weekly Elite Skills Sessions, and heads up our Elite Camps during the school holidays.
Her knowledge, experience and talent has led her to recently being hired as an assistant coach at the prestigious Copleston Basketball Academy, one of the leading Performance Basketball Programme’s in the country.
OLLIE MIALL
OUR COMMUNITY SESSIONS COACH
Before Ollie moved to Worcester to study, he was a key member of the all-conquering Ipswich Basketball Senior Women’s coaching staff, that won a historic double in 2021. On his arrival at University, he brough his considerable experience to the programme, helping the club to promotion to WNBL Division One in 2023/24.
Ollie returns to Ipswich with a BSc in Sports Coaching and joins the Playground2Pro coaching staff as a community coach, working in Primary and Secondary Schools, and will also be involved in some of our holiday activities.
