Henderson already has a wealth of coaching experience under his belt, most recently with the Trailblazers D3 Men, but he has also coached the Blazers Women, the U18 Men and U16 Boys.
Last year's regular-season winners had hoped to recruit someone who could fulfil all of the many roles previously undertaken by outgoing Head Coach Matt Shaw, but despite a strong field of potential applicants, the size and complexity of the role meant that wasn’t possible.
Instead, the club will split the D1 Men and Academy responsibilities, thereby opening the door to Henderson, whose a full-time teaching role would otherwise have precluded him from applying.
Involved with the club since its inception in 2000 when he was a junior player, Henderson says the quality of coaches around the club made him realise coaching was also something he was keen to get involved with:
“I had great role models around me in terms of Clarence [Wiggins], Matt and many others, so around ten years ago, I decided to get more involved and I’ve been coaching at various levels ever since. I love the club and I’m passionate about it, so I want to see it succeed and hopefully I can be a part of that.
“Matt has obviously had a lot of success, culminating in winning the D1 league title last season, so I’d to keep a lot of that same style of coaching, but also add some bits of my own. I like to play an exciting style of basketball, but I think it’s important to involve the players in that too, once recruitment is complete.
“The element of the game I love most is developing players, so the likes of Blake Bowman who’s now at Leicester Riders and current D1 players like Leighton Elliott-Sewell and Charlie Brown, who were pair were part of the most successful team I’ve ever coached, when they finished as the third best U18 Men’s team in the country.
“On the Ladies side, I’ve also coached the likes of Megan Lovatt and Katie Januszewska, who’ve played for Essex Rebels and Leicester Riders in the WBBL respectively,” he said.
Outgoing Head Coach Matt Shaw admits being involved in the recruitment of his own successor has been a strange experience, saying: “We had some great applicants, but the more and more we thought about it, the more and more we thought it was important to have some continuity and to find someone who really understood the club and understood what we were trying to achieve. Kyle definitely brings those kinds of attributes to the table.
"Kyle also knows all the players who were with us last season and he’s worked with quite a few of them as they’ve come up through the club, so we’re really excited to see how he does."
.
Main image credit - Derby Trailblazers
