Rosen is back playing basketball for Maccabi

Get The AJN Newsletter by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up

AJN STAFF

BRAD Rosen remembers where it all began. He vividly remembers his parents’ involvement with Maccabi when, as a youngster, he fell in love with basketball, and they shlepped him to games.

Now, 188 top-flight basketball games later, the former Sydney Kings captain has returned to take the court as player-coach of Sydney’s Maccabi Premier League Basketball team.

Rosen, who spent two seasons as captain of the Kings, was assistant coach to Brian Goorjian for two of the former Australian basketball powerhouse’s National Basketball League championships earlier in the decade.

He will draw on a wealth of experience to boost a group of young players who have kept Maccabi in the highest tier of the City of Sydney Basketball Association for two consecutive seasons — the first time this has happened in 25 years.

The 2007 Maccabi Hall of Fame inductee, club junior and now patron of NSW Maccabi Basketball said returning to Maccabi after ankle surgery was a “no-brainer”. His ambition was always to return to the club that is “in my blood”, injury permitting.

With such a young team in 2009, Rosen thought it might only be in a coaching capacity, but when approached by team managers Archie Platt and John Bineth to both play and coach, it all fell into place.

“It feels really good, it’s a really nice feeling,” he told The AJN. “I always wanted to come back and play, but I was out after ankle surgery. Playing with that team was something I didn’t think would happen. They are a younger generation and it was nice seeing young guys playing, but when they approached me, it just fitted beautifully.”

The point guard will team up with a group that has been playing with Maccabi since the under-8 juniors.

Ben Marks, Mat Bineth, Simon Platt, Geoffrey Cohen and Jonathan Lemish have been loyal members of the club for more than 12 years and have now added Barry Dubovsky to the ranks. Rosen has also brought former Kings teammate Bruce Bolden along with him to assist coaching the team to another level.

Rosen’s main ambition is for the guys to walk off the court at the end of the season “as better players for it on and off the court … then I’ve achieved everything that I wanted”.

While being competitive throughout their two seasons in the Premier League, club president Michael America and his committee have made a concerted effort to take the team to a more competitive level.