Ready to entertain

Perry excited to be Valley Vipers first head coach

Eric Perry envisions his Valley Vipers playing an entertaining brand of basketball in their first season.

The new head coach of the Eastern Canadian Basketball League (ECBL) franchise is looking forward to putting his stamp on the team, which will play out of the Kings Mutual Century Centre in Berwick.

“Everybody loves to see the dunks, the threes – the oohs and ahhs – that’s what gets the crowd going,” he said in a recent telephone interview from his home in Phoenix. “I want to play a simple brand of basketball, spreading the floor out, simple passes, simple cuts, backdoors, layups, the threes.”

And while many people concentrate on the offensive side of the court, Perry said the Vipers will kickstart their offence by getting after it defensively.

“That’s going to be one of our main focuses that gets our offence going.”

Wolfville native Tim Kendrick, the league’s president, called Perry an outgoing young man who can communicate well with his players and the community.

“I think he’s got a great attitude,” he said. “But he’s a serious basketball guy as well. … I think it’s a real good fit for him.”

Perry’s assistant coach will be Mark Clarke while Britt Traynor is the team’s manager of business and basketball operations.

“Everybody will know that Mark Clarke coached at Horton High School,” said Kendrick, who coached Clarke during his tenure as the Griffins head coach. “So, a kid playing for Horton High School, or a kid playing at West Kings, or a kid playing in Middleton, they’ll know this is a realistic path to get to play professional basketball someday.

“And I think that is huge.”

CONNECTION

Perry, a 34-year-old California native, played forward for Crossroads College in Rochester, Minn. He has coached in seven different countries, mostly in southeast Asia and London, and is looking forward to coming north of the 49th parallel. The proximity to the United States made the league attractive to him.

“For me to be able to impact … and help players in Canada, I think that would be tremendous,” he said.

He found out about the league through a mutual friend of his and Kendrick’s. Robbie Robinson played for Kendrick on the Island Storm of the National Basketball League of Canada and is the ECBL’s senior marketing manager.

“Robbie got me connected with Tim and we just built a small rapport with each other,” Perry explained.

The two stayed in touch after the league had to push back its first season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“And now the opportunity presents itself and he was like, ‘Hey, if you’re still interested, I have a job for you,’” Perry said.

He said Robinson played an integral role in him committing to the new circuit.

“He and I talked a lot,”

Perry said, noting he wanted to know the league’s vision. “He definitely played heavily into me coming out here.”

Perry worked as the director of basketball operations at the California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) and served as a player development coach and operations manager with Chris Johnson Hoops, where he assisted with the off-season training of NBA players like Dwayne Wade, Joakim Butler and Jimmy Butler.

He has a degree in business administration with a minor in sports management.

SCHEDULE

The six teams (Saint John Union, Moncton Motion, Bathurst Bears, Truro Tide

and Charlottetown Power) will play a 26-game schedule with the Vipers starting on the road March 30 in Truro. They host the Power April 6 in their home opener in Berwick.

ARRIVAL

Perry was expected to arrive in the Annapolis Valley this week.

“I’m anxious, excited, nervous and (everything) in between. I am ready to get going,” he said.

Perry said part of the nervousness comes from not knowing who will make up the Vipers’ roster. The league will divide the players into teams as opposed to the teams signing individual players. The rosters are expected to be released in the next few days.