Skip to content

First session free · Home court: Svanemøllehallen, Østerbro

Instagram·coach@talatabasketball.dk

Book free trial
The staff

The people
on the floor.

Four coaches. NCAA Division 1, the Basketligaen, and professional careers across four countries. This is who your kid actually works with, every session.

Book a free trial How we coach
Teams U9 to Men
Countries coached in Canada, Lithuania, Indonesia, Denmark
Home court Svanemøllehallen

Who is actually in the gym

Plenty of clubs put a coach's playing career on a page and leave it there. What matters more 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 these four.

Every one of them has played the game at a level above the one they coach. That is deliberate. They have all been the worst player in a gym at some point, and they remember what it took to stop being that.

Deng Awak, head coach at Talata Basketball
Head Coach

Deng Awak

Founder. Steps in wherever he is needed, U9 to Men

Deng founded Talata in 2021 and is on the floor every day, with every team in the club. He played college basketball in Canada and then professionally in Canada, Lithuania and Denmark, and has coached in all three plus Indonesia.

  • Played college basketball in Canada, then pro in Canada, Lithuania and Denmark
  • Has coached in four countries: Canada, Lithuania, Indonesia and Denmark
  • Built and ran the basketball academy at The British School of Vilnius in Lithuania
  • Founded Talata in 2021, from twenty players to over ninety

coach@talatabasketball.dk

Jordan Naughton, Head of Academy at Talata Basketball
Head of Academy

Jordan Naughton

Head coach, U17 and U19 · lead assistant on U15

A 6'9" forward who grew up playing in Rancho Cucamonga, California, and came up through Etiwanda High School there. He played NCAA Division 1 at the University of Wyoming in the Mountain West, graduating in 2019, then turned professional in Denmark with BK Amager in the Basketligaen.

  • NCAA Division 1, University of Wyoming, Mountain West Conference
  • Professional in Denmark with BK Amager, Basketligaen
  • 6'9" forward, Etiwanda High School, California
  • Coached at Canada Camp 2026 in Lethbridge, Alberta
James Young, strength and conditioning coach at Talata Basketball
Strength & Conditioning

James Young

Off-court work across the Academy

American, from North Carolina. James played college ball at Chowan University and then spent eight years as a professional in Denmark. He was part of Talata in year one, stepped away to welcome his first child, and came back for year three.

  • College basketball at Chowan University, North Carolina
  • Eight years professional in Denmark: Stevnsgade, SISU, BK Amager and Hvidovre
  • Coached the BK Amager women's team in the Dameligaen
  • BA in Sports Management
  • Manages at Sporting Health Club in Frederiksberg away from the court
GJ
Head Coach · U15, U13, U9

Georg Jespersen

Head coach of U15, U13 and U9 · everyone calls him George

George runs the youngest end of the club and coaches U15. Mini, Junior, U9, U13 and U15. He is the coach most Talata families meet first. He played his own youth basketball at Falcon here in Copenhagen, so he has been the eight year old in the gym as well as the one running it.

He is studying sustainability at Copenhagen Business School alongside the coaching. He is also the one who has already watched the tape twice before anyone asks.

  • Played his youth basketball at Falcon, Copenhagen
  • Head coach, U15, U13 and U9
  • Lead coach for Mini (5 to 9) and Junior (10 to 12) at Strandvejsskolen
  • Studying sustainability at Copenhagen Business School
  • Film study, defensive systems and game prep across the youth teams
Tyler Hansen, assistant coach at Talata Basketball
Assistant Coach

Tyler Hansen

Assistant coach, Mini and Junior

Tyler plays for BK Amager and coaches the youngest groups alongside George, which is where most Talata families meet a coach for the first time. He is 21 and came up through Danish youth basketball before two years of prep school in the United States, so he has been the kid in the gym and the kid on the plane.

  • Currently plays for BK Amager
  • Putnam Science Academy, Connecticut. Two years of American prep basketball, Power 5 prep conference champions 2022/23
  • A season of college basketball at SUNY Cortland, New York
  • Hvidovre, winners of Divisionspokalen Øst 2025
  • Youth at Brønshøj Dragons and a season at Ishøj
  • Assistant coach, Mini (5 to 9) and Junior (10 to 12)
How we coach

We do not run drills in lines.

Talata coaches on the constraints-led approach. Players learn inside games with the rules bent to force a skill, rather than standing in a queue repeating a movement nobody has to make under pressure. It is why our sessions look louder and messier than you might expect, and why the kids keep turning up.

Read The Talata Way →

Come and meet them.

The first session is free, and you do not need gear or any experience. Tell us the date of birth and we will tell you which group and which night.

Book a free trial