Zitina Aokuso, Inspiring the Young
It is with a great deal of sadness that I advise that Leonard King, the Basketball Queensland, General Manager – Game Development, has tendered his resignation. Leonard has accepted an offer from Basketball New Zealand to be their General Manager – High Performance. Leonard will leave Basketball Queensland on Friday, 8 December 2017.
Leonard has been with Basketball Queensland since April 2011 and during his tenure we have seen a great deal of change in our High Performance programs. Following a review of our programs which coincided with his appointment, we introduced the Future Development and State Performance Programs and changed the NITP to the National Performance Program (NPP). Leonard was instrumental in the design and implementation of these program which have actually changed the development landscape in Australia with most States now following our lead.
Queensland has won four Gold medals at Australian Junior Championships since joining our team:
2013 – Under 18 North Girls
2015 – Under 16 South Girls and Under 16 North Boys (the first time Queensland won both boys and girls championships in the same year)
2017 – Under 16 North Boys
There were also many Silver and Bronze medals won by Queensland teams during this period, the most prolific medal winning period for Basketball Queensland since our inception.
Leonard also oversaw rapid improvement in the development of coaches with the expansion of staff to better assist North Queensland. More recently he took on the management of our Referee Programs which has also resulted in significant changes to these programs.
Leonard is a strategic thinker who has developed close relationships throughout the network which has enabled him to develop what we believe is the best basketball High Performance program in Australia.
He will be sadly missed, but I am sure you join us in wishing him the very best as he takes the next step in his career heading up a national basketball organisation.
Leonard had this to say about his departure –
“It is with a heavy heart that I have decided to move on from Basketball Queensland. It’s one of the best organisations that I have worked for and Graham Burns has done an Exceptional job of leading the organisation. I was fortunate enough to have an opportunity to work alongside of Graham for the 7 years I have been at BQ and I have learned a great deal from him with regards to management and building relationships with people up the line, down the line and across the line. I guess a true testament of how great an organisation BQ is the fact that when employees move on they are pursuing higher position in advancement of their careers and that certainly is the case with me.
I have had the privilege of working alongside some fantastic co-workers during my time who have demonstrated resilience on a daily basis working in the dynamic yet challenging environment. We have had a lot of success and have had many memorable moment during our time at BQ. Our North QLD State team program continues to go from strength to strength, our State Performance Program numbers continue to grow and grow and our relationship with our partners both State wide and Nationally have never been stronger.
While it is sad to be departing, I know that Basketball Queensland is in very god hands with a very competent board working hard for the organisation, a strong and committed CEO and some amazing staff who truly care about the sport. It has truly been a humbling experience to come to work every day, surrounded by great people who are motivated to get better and I am looking forward to continuing to work with each of them but in a different capacity.”
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