Ballarat Miners Youth League Coaching Announcement

The Ballarat Miners are pleased to announce the re-appointment of Kyle Slack as the Youth League Men’s Head Coach for a third successive year and welcome Brad Dennis as the Youth League Women’s Head Coach.

Slack has been a part of the Youth League Miners Men’s program for the last three years initially as an assistant coach in 2021 before stepping into the head coach role in 2022 where he led the team to the Victorian Youth Championship Division Championship.

Slack is excited to be going around again saying “I’m super excited to be involved with the Miners Men Senior Elite program again in 2024. Having been a part of the program for 3 years now and helped develop some of our young local talent it's exciting to see what our Youth League Men team will be able to achieve this season. Last season was not how we wanted to back up our title defense but I'm still proud of the athletes we had come through our program, especially as a lot of them took steps forward individually and will be ready for bigger and better seasons this year!”

Slack added, “We are lucky to have a lot of talent coming through from our junior’s program and it’s exciting to see what we can do to help these athletes grow into the best players that they can be.”

Basketball Ballarat’s CEO, Nev Ivey said "It’s fantastic to have Kyle back on board for season 2024 following his outstanding work in the Youth League Men’s program over the last three years. Although last season’s results didn’t match the championship feat of 2022, there was still some promising signs of continued improvement from the athletes, maintaining the great transitional link from our Junior Pathway.” 

For the women’s side, it is a changing of the guard with Brad Dennis coming on board and replacing Richard Morin in the Head Coach's seat, Morin will continue on within the program and play a vital role as an assistant for Brad. Dennis has experience at State Level through his involvement in the State Development Program as well as having background in a variety of coaching roles within both Junior and Senior representative programs at Keilor and Melton.

Dennis had originally been appointed the Under 18 Girls coach but after careful consideration, Basketball Ballarat made the decision to not enter Under 18 Girls into VJBL for the 2024 Season.

The club made this decision to future-proof our women’s program where the 2024 under 18 Girls will make up the core of our Big V Youth Championship roster whilst also representing Ballarat at tournaments in under-18 age groups throughout the season including the Basketball Victoria Junior Country Championships.

Ivey said “Having Brad come into the Miners program off the back of leading numerous other associations at a similar level, will prove greatly beneficial to our young and talented Youth League Women’s squad. His extensive work with Basketball Victoria Country development programs as well as his enthusiasm for the sport makes him a great coach and person to help us solidify our Youth League Program.”

Dennis is eager to get started with the Youth League group saying, “I am very humbled to be given the opportunity to work with and develop the selected team for the Ballarat Youth League women’s program”.

Dennis added, “With tryouts commencing in the next couple of weeks, I cannot wait to see the players give their all and push to be part of an exciting time in the Miners Senior program”.

The Ballarat Miners men and women will kick off pre-season this November before taking a break over Christmas and New Year with both the Youth League and NBL1 seasons due to start in March.