University of Western Australia
UWA Sport is pleased to announce the appointment of two head coaches for The University of Western Australia's 2022 University Basketball League (UBL) teams.
Endorsed by Basketball Australia and coordinated by UniSport Australia, the UBL is a national basketball league designed to strengthen the pathway to the top level in Australia. The competition is played in a home and away season across the country to determine Australia's number one basketball university.
In 2022, UWA will again enter a team in both the women's and men's competitions. Kerry Clarke will coach the women's team, and CJ Jackson will coach the men's team. Clarke and Jackson are both highly regarded in the Perth basketball community.
Clarke has been a Development Coach with the Perth Lynx since 2020 and is the current state Under 16's Women's coach. In her 30-year career, she has made multiple finals appearances coaching in both the State Basketball League (SBL) and Western Australian Basketball League (WABL). Clarke also has a strong connection with UWA, receiving a UWA Half Blue in Basketball in 1988, serving as Vice President of the UWA Sports Council in 1987, and President of the UWA Basketball Club from 1986-1988.
"I'm very excited about my appointment as Coach of the UWA Maali Women's team," Clarke said.
"I represented UWA as a player at intervarsity competitions while I was a student at UWA. I made life-long friends both at UWA and other universities around Australia – we had great fun being part of a student community that played basketball around WA and interstate. I hope to foster that same experience amongst our UWA Maali student athletes – playing basketball to the best of their ability with the associated benefits of being part of a community with a common purpose and creating fantastic memories of their time at university."
CJ Jackson is the current head coach of the Perth Redbacks NBL1 Men's team and head coach of the Scotch College 1st team. He has previously held coaching roles at the Swan City Mustangs and Cockburn Cougars and administrative positions in the SBL and Basketball WA. Jackson is also the Director and head coach at SkyPlay Sports, a basketball academy developing young talent in Perth.
"The UWA Maali UBL program not only provides exciting student experience opportunities for those selected into the squad, but also for students in work-integrated learning roles that support the off-field needs of the program," said UWA Sport Senior Manager - Performance, Nicole Serafini. "UWA Sport are thrilled to have both CJ and Kerry bring their wealth of knowledge to the leadership of their respective UWA Maali teams in 2022."
The UWA Maali will play their first match of the season against the University of the Sunshine Coast Spartans on Tuesday 22 March at the UWA Recreation and Fitness Centre. Full fixtures can be found on the UniSport Australia website.