Hillary Nets receives the Active South Dublin Coach of the Year prize from Mayor Pamela Kearns, Emma Kennedy, MD, The Echo, Thos McDermott, Head of Active South Dublin and Bryan Malone, Sales and Marketing Manager, The Plaza Hotel
Hillary Nets claims Club Coach of the Year prize
WATCH:
HILLARY Nets was named the Active South Dublin Coach of the Year in association with The Echo and South Dublin County Council in the Plaza Hotel last Thursday.
Now a coach of FloMax Liffey Celtics, Nets has impressed as a coach for a number of teams over the past year.
Nets led the Eanna U18s side to success in the Billy Coffey National Cup where they decisively defeated Galway Titans 92-72.
Also coaching the Colaiste Eanna school team, Nets was involved in the side that won the U19A All Ireland League who defeated St Marys Portlaoise a few short months later.
Held in the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght, it was a thrilling game which saw Colaiste Eanna just get over the line with a 61-58 scoreline.
This was the fourth year in a row that the school had won the title.
Net’s achievement’s with the school did not end there however as they won gold in the World School Championships which were held in Valencia.
Net’s guided them to a first place finish after defeating St Vincent’s Castleknock College in the final.
Nets has also impressed since leaving his role with Eanna as under 18 coach and joining as coaching head coach of Flomax Liffey Celtics.
Appointed head coach in June he guided them to reach the Women’s Super League National Final earlier on this month.
Nets spoke on the achievement of winning the World Championships in November.
“Massive achievement for the lads, we’ve been working for the last six years now to get into that.
‘We were invited to the world championships just before covid but obviously we weren’t able to go.
‘We got the opportunity this year to go to Valencia and the world championships this year which was a great opportunity for the lads to see all the facilities they have over there but was also a great reward for all the hard work they’ve put in over the years.”
Nets spoke of the growth of basketball and the contributions of volunteers in the space.
“To echo what the lads were saying and what Patsy [Kelleher] was saying, it’s all the volunteers.
‘They go into the primary schools and clubs and bring basketball to them. The kids have that opportunity to train with professionals and be coached by capable volunteers.”
