OLIVERI NAMED HEAD COACH OF ONTARIO BOYS' CENTRE FOR PERFORMANCE

York University Lions men’s basketball head coach Tom Oliveri has been named the boys’ technical head coach of Ontario’s Centre for Performance (CP).

In this role, Oliveri will oversee eight separate regions across Ontario. All of the athletes in the CP program are high-school aged and have been identified as having elite potential. Twice per year (late December and early April), they will be brought together for centralized training sessions under the direction of Oliveri. He will also be responsible for developing the curriculum for the CP, training the coaches and monitoring the progress of selected athletes.

The CP program is designed to provide on- and off-court instruction by national level coaches in the area of basketball skill development, as well as providing an introduction to sport science techniques offered by experts from the National Sport Centres.

Several of the athletes who represented Canada at the world championships this summer were products of Ontario’s CP program.

“To be named head coach is an honour and I am excited to work with the province’s CP coaches as well as those athletes who are committed to developing as basketball players,” said Oliveri. “I hope to have everyone in the program working together toward a common goal, and that is to become the best regionally so that as a country we can continue the success we have achieved. Ultimately, it is our goal to have these players move on to represent Ontario and Canada.”

Oliver will make his debut as head coach of the Lions on Saturday, Oct. 2, when the squad faces off against a team of Lions alumni in the first non-conference game of the season. York begins its regular-season schedule on Friday, Nov. 5 against the Windsor Lancers at 8pm at the Tait McKenzie Centre.

With files from Ontario Basketball