Coach announces departure 'with heavy heart'

A basketball coach who set up an academy in Derby to support teenagers has announced he is leaving after 15 years.

Former Derby Trailblazers head coach Matt Shaw, 46, said he was making the move "with a heavy heart" as he prepares to head to the USA.

Shaw has been a key figure in the club since 2009, including leading his side to the NBL Men's Division One league title in 2023/24.

In 2010, Shaw set up an academy to support 16-19-year-old talents on and off the pitch, and despite his senior squad silverware he said helping so many young players is what he is most proud about from his time in Derby.

The academy, initially set up as a partnership between the club, Noel-Baker Academy and Derby College, takes players after GCSE to combine sporting education with courses at the college.

Players have gone on to scholarships in the USA, further education, employment and into BBL club sides, with alumni including the Leicester Riders' Blake Bowman and Trailblazers first teamers Leighton Elliott-Sewell, Charlie Brown and Simeon Perry.

He said: "It's been a great job because it's combined my passion and helping young people combine education and sport. It's been really good fun.

"They have to do education alongside it, kind of following the Coach Carter model combining elite education and elite sport together, so they have something to fall back on.

"We've not only got a lot of people through Derbyshire to be part of the academy over the past 15 years, we've enticed a lot people from across the country and had people from Europe come over to be part of it.

"We've grown into one of the better academies nationwide, which has been really rewarding."

Shaw got the basketball bug growing up in Derby after being "inspired by the players of the '80s".

After briefly playing for the Derby Bucks, he headed to the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota, on a scholarship.

On returning to England, Shaw worked with Mansfield basketball club and Academy before joining the Derby Trailblazers in 2009.

He has been named NBL Coach of the Year in 2018 and 2022, and at academy level the EABL Coach of the Year in 2015, 2016 and 2018.

Shaw's time growing Derby's basketball academy has coincided with a growth in the sport in the UK.

He said: "It's quite a cool sport for kids to play, very social media friendly, so we've seen a growth since Covid within our club and over the last 10 years, just a lot more participants for sure.

"I'm most proud of helping players that perhaps wouldn't have been in education, or players who haven't been phenomenal on the court but have really come out of their shell and got into university or found jobs they wouldn't have if it wasn't for the basketball."

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