Senior Coach Justin Longmuir said Fremantle’s coaching group made the most of their off-season, visiting some high-profile organisations in the USA to work on their professional development ahead of this pre-season.
Longmuir and assistants Jaymie Graham, Matthew Boyd and Joel Corey toured the likes of the US Olympic Committee, UCLA and Google, however the highlight to Longmuir was their visit of the San Antonio Spurs.
“The family came over and we took the kids to Disneyland and caught a bit of sport as well,” Longmuir told 6PR.
“Then the other coaches came over and we did a little bit of professional development.
“We were able to work with some other coaches in the US, which we got a fair bit out of.
“It’s always good at the end of the year to reflect on your own practices as a coach and try and improve your own coaching craft, we were able to get over there and do a bit of that.”
Longmuir said he gained the most out of the visit with the Spurs, meeting with assistant coaches Matthew Nielsen and Brett Brown.
Both Brown and Nelson have experience in Australia in the NBL, with Brown coaching the North Melbourne Giants and the Sydney Kings and Nielsen an assistant at the Perth Wildcats.
Brown was also the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers between 2013 and 2020.
“The highlight of the trip was going to the San Antonio Spurs, a great organization with great alignment and consistency over a long period of time,” Longmuir said.
“Going inside the four walls, you can get a sense of why they've been so successful over a long period of time.
“We got some really good access and we were able to learn from some really good coaches, which is great.”
Fremantle’s coaching group are now back in Perth preparing for the return of the first to fourth year players on Monday 28 November.
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