Dave Greenaway has been head coach of the Men’s basketball first team at UEL since 2018 but this season brings a challenge he’s yet to face. This Wednesday his Phoenix squad see an early season test as rivals the University of Essex come to the Sport Dock. While it wont make or break their season this is the first test for this young squad and one that could show just how much potential this group has.
“It’s a process” was Coach Greenaway’s assessment of his first season with this all new squad. He spoke further talking about how “It is going to take time to get not only cohesion on the court but actually off the court too.”
Coach Greenaway’s emphasis about cohesion ,not only on the court but off it speaks to a belief in a good environment being where the process can flourishing and the team can actualise its potential.
Potential is what Coach Greenaway often came back to when talking about his squad especially when asked about what’s exciting about it. With his highlighting of the team’s potential as both individuals and as a unit he spoke about how the team has “Some athletes” which when applied to how he wants them to play by “Getting out in transition” should lead to some early success for the team even as the team is still learning and coming together under the tutelage of Coach Greenaway.
Speaking about the upcoming game against Essex, Coach Greenaway emphasised the main threat of Essex being them as a collective and as a team with the;and their sense of “Collective unity” through their experience of playing together not only with in BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) competition but also in the BCB (British Championship Basketball.)
The respect Coach Greenaway has for the opposition is clear highlighting their high level of play and the experience of their coach despite his youth, most of it as a player but being in charge of an elite program shows his leadership. Coach Greenaway then stated that “Its really down to… who will be the most disciplined and consistent through out the game.”
At the top level where players can spark into life and take over a game discipline and consistency, especially if a team gets into a hole, are what win games and Coach Greenaway highlighting this suggests to an emphasis on this with in his coaching and the messaging that he gives to his team.
“I need everyone, I need everyone to be at their best” There’s no room for hero ball in this game seems to be Coach Greenaway’s outlook when asked about if he’s going to ask anyone to take control of the game. This we not me outlook once again comes back to his desire for cohesion within the squad both on and off the court.
He’s not expecting the world from his players he wants “Everybody to give what it is they’re capable of.” Id expect the Phoenix to be a high energy side in Wednesday evenings game.
While he’s not expecting the world from his players he does expecting three things from his squad: that they play hard, be consistent and disciplined and playing smart. These three concepts that he’s looking for within his players lead into what he would go onto say about having “A level of trust and unselfishness that we have to have through out our play.”
Accountability and holding each other accountable is important to Coach Greenaway and he expects it of his players and rightfully so.
Players who not only hold themselves accountable but keep each other accountable come together as a unit and create a culture of unity and family that then leads to the unselfishness and team first approach Coach Greenaway clearly wants from his squad.
“Winning is one thing, that’s an outcome, it’s the process in getting there” Coach Greenaway values. This outlook on the game to me highlights how he sees his job as a basketball coach. This view illustrates an understanding that the growth of his players, both on and off the court, the steps that they take together is what will get them to their goal and an awareness that you can’t win them all but you can keep moving forwards, this mindset can only benefit the teams attempts to reach their full potential.
Coach Greenaway is not one to shy away from honestly assessing where his team is at and the difficulties that the start of their journey together has seen. With a new group he’s of the mindset that you’re “Starting from the bottom” and that they’re trying to integrate “Principles , concepts, ideology, mindset… style of play” getting his new squad to buy into all of
this then leads to the team “Building a DNA” with Coach Greenaway wanting to get to a point where “You can say, even from the outside, this is what they do.”
He once again comes back to this idea of a process. The journeys a team go on together through out the year both long and short are important to Coach Greenaway, especially when they’re hard. He spoke freely about the start of their journey these first couple of months with it being “A difficult one I’m not going to hide that.”
While the start of a new season is a process for the players learning what the coach expects of them it’s also been a period of learning and adapting for Coach Greenaway. “I had to learn patience…. the level of expectation and acceptance and finding the balance.” He spoke especially on how hard it was for him to find the balance of expectations and acceptance which is to be expected with how long he’s been coaching a team at the top of BUCS basketball.
With the new squad he is searching for a balance between the desire to win but also to build for the future and to build a DNA. He highlighted the difference between what is seen on the surface and what is underneath “Your non-negotiables, your pillars, how you’re going to find success and what does that look like for this young team.”
Once again Coach Greenaway is illustrating that he knows what will make this a successful year may not be obvious straight away but is more so about the team learning together and building to a point where success becomes what is clear and obvious.
“Its just marrying up that process and that development and still trying to be that performance side and still trying to win basketball games”
This outlook to start the season is one that once again mirrors his earlier thoughts that “Winning is one thing, that’s an outcome its the process in getting there.that I value”
“Its been hard” Coach Greenaway said of these last couple months and his openness and acceptance of the process and the difficulty of the journey shows that his principles of playing hard, being disciplined and consistent and playing smart aren’t just for the team on the court but for him as well.
You cant reach potential without a process. Processes take three things more than anything: hard work, discipline and consistency. These are all traits that Coach Greenaway not only wants to instil in his players but ones he embodies. For this team to see a successful season in whatever form it ends up being these three non-negotiables must be met all season. If the team can make these three principles their identity on Wednesday they can get a result
against the Blades.
