Basketball Ireland is pleased to announce the appointments of Erin Bracken and Andrew McGeever as the new Community Development Officers for South County Dublin and County Meath respectively. Both will take up their new positions on April 1st. Recently Bracken was appointed as head coach of the Abbey Seals Dublin Lions men’s National League team. She’s worked as an assistant coach with the Irish U18 and U20 women’s teams, in 2016 and 2019 respectively. She has also coached underage teams at Liffey Celtics and Dublin Lions, at collegiate level with TUD Tallaght women’s team and Ulster University men’s team, along with schools teams at Coláiste Chiaráin. She’s played for Liffey Celtics and Ulster University in the National League and represented Ireland at U16 level. She graduated from ITT with a Bachelor’s in Sports Science and then from Ulster University with a MSc in Sports Coaching and Performance.
“I am delighted to be a part of a great team of Development Officers. I am really looking forward to helping grow the game of basketball in South Dublin and in the country,” Bracken said.
Paula Swayne, from South Dublin County Council, said: “We are delighted to enter into a partnership with Basketball Ireland to co-fund this position, whose role is to develop and coordinate the implementation of basketball programmes in key priority areas, including areas of disadvantage and targeted population groups within the South Dublin County Council administrative area. Erin will join a team of co-funded development officers from Cricket Leinster, the FAI, Leinster Rugby and Dublin GAA, to give the residents of the county access to sporting opportunities and wellbeing programmes through their respective sports”.
New Meath Community Development Officer, Andrew McGeever, is currently part of the Ireland U18 men’s coaching staff, working under Paul Kelleher, having joined the team this year. He has also been involved in coaching at Basketball Ireland National Camps for the last four years.McGeever’s playing career has seen him represent Letterkenny Blaze and St. Vincent’s at underage level, while playing in the Men’s Super League for Pyrobel Killester between 2016 and 2019. Most recently he played National League with LYIT Donegal, before his switch to IT Carlow Basketball, where he is completing his MSc in Sports Performance Analysis at IT Carlow. He previously graduated from DCU with a BSc Sport Science and Health.
“I am excited to be joining the team of Development Officers working to grow our sport across the country. I can’t wait to help progress the game in Meath and look forward to when we can all get back to playing the sport we love,” McGeever said. The new Meath Community Development Officer role is a collaboration between Basketball Ireland and Meath County Council and is also backed by the Meath Local Sports Partnership.
Basketball Ireland Head of Development, Ciaran O’Sullivan, welcomed both appointments: “We are really pleased to have recruited two such high-calibre people, in Erin and Andrew, to help us engage further with the communities in South County Dublin and County Meath. I’d like to thank South Dublin County Council, Meath County Council, along with the Meath Local Sports Partnership for their support in helping bring these roles to fruition.”
Basketball Ireland chairman, Paul McDevitt, added: “Basketball Ireland is always looking to increase its reach into communities and grow the game and these two appointments reinforce that. Erin and Andrew bring a wealth of basketball experience, while being accomplished academically too and are strong additions to our team of Development Officers.”
