Aidan Igiehon working on making hoop dreams a reality for Irish basketball's next generation

The Ireland international blazed a trail stateside as a high school prospect.

Fri, 10 Jan, 2025 - 07:07

Brendan O'Brien

Great gusts of cold air sweep into the massive hall at the Gormanston Sports Complex each time a door is opened but the distinctive smell of stale sweat keeps colonising the place as 140 girls and boys pound the four basketball courts game after game, hour after hour over two days in late December.

Amid the balcony sprinkled with parents, and the 40 volunteers keeping all the various plates spinning, there is one man moving slowly between the courts. His eyes dart and dissect the action as he sips from a plastic coffee cup and pulls his overcoat tighter around his shoulders. He is key to all this. This is for people like him.