Basketball coach leaves Swindon club after 'bittersweet' decision

A basketball coach who has mentored young people to develop confidence both on and off the pitch has announced his decision to move on to a new challenge.

Joshim Miah joined Swindon Shock as a teenager and has been coaching and playing for the club for the last fifteen years, before becoming the head coach two years ago.

He said: “Everything I know about life and myself I have learnt through sport. It produces resilient, confident young people and it helps them to deal with adversity so it’s much easier, so they can face challenges in other parts of life.

“We have pushed the kids to build a pathway from just picking up a basketball to actually becoming a basketball player. They were playing for fun before and we doubled training times, but the structured approach wasn’t connecting with them.

"We had to find the balance between structure and fun, a couple of them have struggled with directions but the breakthroughs have been huge - their growth, confidence and improvement is what I’m most proud of. Although they may hate it at the time, it’s the thing they thank me for when it comes to award evenings and their success on the court is a by-product.”

Joshim has turned the teams around by encouraging the younger teams to play in league competitions and the older teams to enter national competitions - this season the under-17s were Challenge Cup Finalists, finished third place in the league and were playoff quarter-finalists.

The club celebrated their achievements at a sold-out awards night with ex-Bristol Flyers captain Daniel Edozie as the guest speaker, which doubled up as a leaving party for Joshim.

“I had a crazy vision and I’ve poured my heart and soul into it, I knew that if I could get it right, the club would grow for years to come. It’s taken a lot of time and effort and this is only a part-time job alongside my full-time job, but sometimes it has felt like it’s the other way round. The Shock family are the biggest strength because people have worked really hard.

“We’ve already prepared for the upcoming year but I won’t be there", Joshim added. "It's bittersweet but it's given me the confidence to do this every day, so I’m moving to the Midlands to be a sports co-ordinator at a school. I’ll still be supporting the club in the background though."