Derrick W.

I have over 30 years of coaching experience at the high school, college, and club level. I founded the Middletown (CT) Basketball Club and am now the Founder and Director of Men of the Family Basketball Program in Indianapolis, IN. My coaching career started at my high school alma mater in suburban Philadelphia, PA. This gave me the opportunity 6 years later to coach at the college level, where I stayed for four years. During those years, I coached an All American and several all conference players. One of the biggest benefits of this experience was learning to evaluate players, workout players individually, and work with some of the best minds in the game at camps and coaching clinics. My camp experience includes Morgan Wooten's Mason Dixon Camp, University of Maryland, UConn, Villanova, St. Joe's, UC Berkley and many others. The speakers and chalk talks I participated in were led by Hubie Brown, Rick Majerus, Jim Boeheim, John Calipari, Coach K, and countless others. I am fortunate to count coaches like Jay Wright, Phil Martelli, Kurt Townsend, Joe Jones, Monte Ross, Matt Brady and Dave Dickerson to name a few as close, personal friends.

I typically work with junior high and older players and receive my annual NCAA Coaching Certification and have also completed the Positive Coaching Alliance certification programs.

My experience and vast coaching network allows me to prepare players for the highest level or to make the biggest impact they can at their current level. Because I was coached by the brother of Tom Gola in junior high, had an uncle that played for John Wooden at UCLA, and have a son on full scholarship at a Division 1 University, I understand what it takes to compete at the highest levels.

In junior high, I was CYO All City in Philadelphia and led my team to the City Semifinals as an 8th grader. This gave me the opportunity to attend a private school and basketball powerhouse in suburban Philadelphia. There I was a starter as a senior on a team that was League Runner Up, District Runner Up and made it to the eastern state quarterfinals at the time setting the record for most games played in a season. I then decided to pursue a walk on opportunity at Stetson University in Florida. Although I did not make the team, the chance to compete with players at that level taught me a lot. During my years at Stetson, we were an independent so we played the likes of UNC, Duke, Auburn, LaSalle, University of SW Louisiana, and Marquette. Each of these teams had future NBA players on them and we even beat Auburn when they had Charles Barkley and Chuck Person on their team. I continued to play in semipro leagues after I graduated from college and was part of a championship team and received several player of the week honors. I was also a part of 2 championship teams in the NBA's Hoop It Up 3 on 3 competitions in Philadelphia and New Jersey.

Players and parents can expect a high energy, detailed workout focusing on fundamentals and footwork. I use drills that will simulate game like conditions and will require players to give maximum effort in 4 minute intervals. The workout will be both physically and mentally challenging and is designed for players that want to maximize their potential. I expect players to be warmed up and ready prior to the workout beginning. There is no need to pay for this. We will hit the floor doing functional movements for speed and agility and going into how to use screens, get shots off quickly, how to use your body to draw contact while finishing, using angles, finishing around the basket with both hands. However, all workouts are specifically designed for the areas of improvement a player needs the most. No two players are alike and I will not spend time on player’s strengths, but in improving their weaknesses. I am known for developing guards and wing players, but post players can benefit from my sessions because I will get them to move faster and get position that will allow them to get more touches from their guards. Shooting is also a key strength of mine because I have worked with two NBA shooting coaches and incorporated their techniques into my training.