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Justin Serresse (born August 3, 1986) is a French-Canadian basketball coach and former university player. He is currently the Head Coach and Manager of the Basketball Operations of the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks Men's Basketball Team.
Early life
editSerresse was born on August, 3rd, 1986, and raised between Rouen, Mont-Saint-Aignan and Le Havre in Normandy, France. He started playing basketball for the Association Sportive Mont-Saint-Aignan (AMSA, rebaptized MSABC) at the age of 10 after watching his favorite player Scottie Pippen winning a fourth NBA Championship title with the Chicago Bulls.
Playing career
editSerresse played eight years for the Association Sportive Mont-Saint-Aignan before joining the SPO Rouen in 2004. While playing for the U21 team, he also practiced with the professional team before tearing his ACL.
In 2006, after celebrating his 20th birthday, Serresse decided to move from France to study in Canada. He attended Laurentian University, in Sudbury and played for the Voyageurs Men's Basketball team as a small forward under Olympian Shawn Swords.
From 2008 to 2010,[1] Serresse enjoyed playing along with his younger cousin Georges Serresse, who later became the Voyageurs Interim Head Coach in 2022 after Shawn Swords departure to the Long Island Nets of the NBA G League.
Coaching career
editIn North America
editOttawa
editAfter graduating from Laurentian with a Bachelor of Commerce (specialized in Sports Administration), Serresse moved to Ottawa, in 2010 to do a Master of Art in Human Kinetics (specialized in Sports Management) at the University of Ottawa. While completing his studies, he joined the Gee-Gees' coaching staff as a volunteer coach under James Derouin. The following year, he was offered the Lead Assistant Coach position.
During his time in Ottawa, Serresse contributed to the Gee-Gees' success, recording two CIS (now U Sports) silver medals, one CIS bronze medal, one OUA gold medal, one OUA silver medal, and two OUA bronze medals, for 121 wins and 24 losses.
Waterloo
editIn 2016, he replaced the long-time and Hall of Fame Laurier Golden Hawks Head Coach Peter Campbell, becoming the youngest coach in the country. Moving from Ottawa to Waterloo was a great opportunity for Serresse to build his own program and continue to develop players. His Director of Athletics and Recreation, Peter Baxter, who took a bet on "somebody who's up and coming", acknowleged the talent and values that Serresse will bring to Laurier.[2]
With an overall record of 131-92 (58.7%) in eight seasons, Serresse built a successful program on the court. His team qualified for the playoffs each season and ranked in the Top 10 country during a total of 16 weeks in the past three seasons.
Some of his former student-athletes now play professionaly overseas like Ntore Habimana, Ali Sow or Ben Steevens.
While Serresse has already made an impact on the court, he always put a lot of emphasize on the team culture and the "game of life", encouraging his players to be successful in practice, in the classroom and in the community.[3] In 2019, he brought his team to France, realizing a vision he had since his appointement at the head of the Golden Hawks. With the desire to provide a lifetime experience for his players and staff, Serresse curated a nine-day trip to his hometown of Rouen and Paris, alternating sighseeing and basketball games against semi-professional teams.[4]
In 2021, with the help of the Laurier Athletic Department, he launched the "Embrace Your Culture Night", celebrating all cultures from his team. By embracing differences and inclusion, Serresse thinks one another can respect each other better.
FISU
editSerresse coached at the international level starting July 2019 when he reunited with former Coach Shawn Swords as the Assistant Coach of the Team Canada Men's Basketball for the FISU World University Games in Naples, Italy. The team ranked 6th with a record of 6 wins and 2 losses.
Team Canada
editFrom 2021 to 2023, Serresse was the Lead Assistant Coach of the U18/19 Team Canada Men’s Basketball, working alongside Patrick Tatham. The team won the bronze medal at the U19 World Championships in Latvia in 2021, a bronze medal at the U18 Fiba Americas in 2022 and qualified for the U19 World Championships in Hungary where they finished 7th in 2023.
In Africa
editIn 2018, Serresse made his coaching debut in Africa as the Camp Director and Head Coach of the Ian Mahinmi Camp in Cotonou, Benin. He led the camp of over 80 players, one of which was invited to the 2018 NBA Basketball Without Borders camp in Senegal.
In July 2023, Serresse was appointed Lead Assistant Coach for the BAL Team at the second Globl Jam edition,[5] organized by Canada Basketball in Toronto, Canada. It was the first time that the 5-on-5 under 23 basketball tournament featured a team made of players from the Basketball Africa League.
A month later, in August 2023, he was part of the coaching staff for the first ever Giants of Africa Festival held in Kigali, Rwanda.[6] The GOA Festival was a week long celebration of basketball, education, culture and entertainement uniting youth from 16 African countries, organized by Giants of Africa, the non-for-profit co-founded by Masai Ujiri.
Other notable coaches who participated in this week-long event were Lindsey Harding, Jama Mahlalela and Temi Fagbenle of the WNBA and NBA.
Private life
editSerresse has 5 sisters.
While being born and raised in France, Serresse has deep African roots from both his parents. His mother is French-Algerian and his father is French-Cameroonian.
Serresse holds two citizenships. He became Canadian in 2021.
He is married and has one daughter.
Reference section
edit- ^ "Laurentian University Voyageurs, 2009-2010 Basketball Statistics".
- ^ Ibrahim, Abdulhamid (February 2, 2019). "The Bridge of Opportunity: Justin Serresse's path from Rouen to Laurier". U Sports.
- ^ Cascagnette, Matt (March 24, 2021). "How Coach Serresse has built a great basketball program focusing on the game of life". The Cord.
- ^ "A once in a lifetime experience". Wilfrid Laurier University. October 2019.
- ^ Bellerose, Sam (July 10, 2023). "Deng, Serresse on Team Africa roster for second annual GLOBL JAM". Laurier Athletics.
- ^ "Giants of Africa Festival". Giants of Africa. August 2023.