Home court: Svanemøllehallen, Østerbro
Deng Awak founded Talata Basketball in Copenhagen in 2021 and is its head coach. He played pro in Canada, Lithuania and Denmark. Jordan Naughton played NCAA Division 1 at Wyoming and runs the Academy. These are the people who run your kid's sessions.
What matters is who runs the session on a wet Thursday in November. At Talata the head coaches are fixed to a team and the assistants float, so on any given night your kid is likely to be coached by more than one of the people below.
Our head coaches have all played at a level above the one they coach. They have all been the worst player in a gym at some point, and they remember what it took to stop being that.
Talata Men, and on the floor with every team in the club
Deng grew up in Alberta, Canada, and captained Mount Royal University in Calgary. He turned pro with the Vancouver Dragons, played in Lithuania for Raseiniai, then came to Copenhagen and played in the Basketligaen for BK Amager.
He has coached Kauno Žalgiris youth in Lithuania, Douglas College in Canada, the University of Copenhagen and RANS in the Indonesian league. He still plays for Talata Men and scored 34 in the overtime cup win over Hørsholm in September.
Head coach, U15, U17, U19 and the Stevnsgade girls team
Jordan grew up in Rancho Cucamonga, California, and played NCAA Division 1 at the University of Wyoming, graduating in 2019. He turned pro in Denmark with BK Amager and now runs the Talata Academy: U15, U17, U19 and the Stevnsgade girls team.
Everyone calls him George. Youth basketball at Falcon in Copenhagen, now studying at Copenhagen Business School.
Plays for BK Amager. Two years of prep basketball at Putnam Science Academy in Connecticut.
On court with the Academy on Tuesdays, and coaches the group whenever Jordan is with the girls team.
On court with Mini, Sparks, Junior and the Saturday sessions, beside Tyler and Georg.
Players learn inside games, with the rules bent to force a skill. Nobody stands in a queue repeating a movement they will never make under pressure. Our sessions look louder and messier than you might expect, and the kids keep turning up.
Coach somewhere else? Spend two days on our floor with Deng and Jordan at the Coaches Clinic, 28 and 29 December.
Your first session is free. Send us your kid's date of birth and we will tell you which group and which night.
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