My journey in basketball: Adam Drummond

Back in September, Adam Drummond made his debut for the Irish Wheelchair Basketball squad as they began their European Championship campaign in Bulgaria. It marked the latest milestone in a remarkable journey of ability, courage and perseverance that has been far from linear to the green jersey.

A former Irish underage international, who received a scholarship to play college basketball with Dickinson College in the USA, turned MVP of the Irish Wheelchair Association National Cup Final, Irish international in wheelchair basketball and coach at underage, National League and Super League level following an accident in 2021 which left him paralysed from the waist down.

To mark National Disability in Sport Week 2025, we wanted to highlight the opportunity that stems from his continued participation in basketball, in order to show others out there that nothing is beyond your reach.

What motivated you to start your coaching journey with Neptune?

"So what motivated me to start my coaching journey with Neptune was, look I guess, being able to play able body basketball was kind of taken out of my hands and you know Neptune - I live 30 seconds away from the place so it's somewhere I grew up, like where I started playing from the age of four. So I think at the time, it was probably a bigger decision um than I made it out to be. It was just kind of seamless, to be honest with you.

I remember Paul Kelleher came up and visited me in hospital at the time and he actually mentioned that there was no pressure, but I could help him out with the U20's that year if I wanted to. So my first year was kind of a no-brainer to me. It was kind of an easy answer at the time, but I was big decision to be honest with you. It was probably my parents and stuff at the time were kind of like, maybe just kind of leave it or take a break, but I just wanted to stay a part of the club.

Hula Hoops Presidents' Cup Final, National Basketball Arena, Tallaght, Dublin 28/1/2017, BFG Neptune vs EJ Sligo All-Stars, Neptune's Adam Drummond

So, I'm grateful for that to be honest with you, Paul, giving me that opportunity and that's where it kind of started.

When I was playing I'd always have coaches always turn around to me and say, "you're going to be a coach when you're older" and at the time, I had no interest in coaching, to be honest with you, but I guess, when something like that happens and playing the game was taken out of my hands, I still wanted to be involved.

In that regard I think coaching was just an easy decision for me, to be honest."

What are your early memories of it?

My early memories of it were I guess, at the time when I started coaching, I was 22 years-old and I was coaching a U20's team. So I was coaching fellas that I was only two or three years older than. From that perspective, I don't even think being in the wheelchair was at the beginning anyway, one of the difficulties. I would say it would have been the age gap and being so close to the fellas in age I was coaching. They were great (that initial team) and they gave me the support and respect to be honest when I was coaching them.

One of the other things that I struggled with early on then was demonstration and showing drills and showing different actions and different moves, but that's just something I learned to adapt and get around. Again, the lads I've coached have been great in that sense. If I want to demonstrate something, I'll always have someone or another coach that knows what I want to demonstrate. I guess it's the case of me adapting early on and then was also the lads adapting to, "alright he can't demonstrate this here now, but we know what he means.

And if they didn't know what I mean, it was always communicated in a respectful way, like "Adam can you break that down any better? So I guess they were the early memories. The short age gap and the demonstration were probably the two things I struggled with early on. So, yeah, they would have been the challenges really, the two of them, but I have good memories, obviously. It's good memories and it kept me in the club, to be honest with you, and it kept me around the game of basketball and it gave me a purpose during a very difficult time. um I guess it's distracted me from this situation I was in and that I wasn't able to play anymore, but look, I'm still involved in coaching and I can still leave my print on the club.

How did that experience help you develop as a leader?

Going through difficult times, you're going to learn naturally. I went through challenging times, so I was able to lead myself through it and be an example for myself. I guess I tried to keep the two things separate, but it did make me a better leader and it kind of separated basketball and life. To this day, look like I get wound up over basketball, but I am able to step back and go, this is just basketball. And I kind of, bring that to my teams, to be honest with you.

Whether it's big games now or when times do get tough, or a tough loss and I just kind of break it down and be like, we all get to go home today, our lives are fine. It's just basketball. And I guess in that sense, yeah, my experience kind of trickled into my coaching in that way, that it's not all doom and gloom, it's not, we're not playing in the NBA at the end of the day.

 Adam Drummond in action for Rebel Wheelers during the IWA National Cup Final in 2025. 

I'm coaching U20's or National League, Super League, or colleges, it's just basketball and if we're not enjoying it, there's something wrong. I think that's the first and foremost thing for me is, they enjoy it and then, you know, commitment being competitive. They all come second, third, fourth. We're here for a reason, that's to enjoy. That's why we started when we were younger.

As a leader, I've been trying to develop as well, like you look at different coaches - How do they lead? How do I want to lead? How do I want to be perceived if someone's across the court watching me coach, how do I want to be perceived? There's a lot of coaches out there, like I don't give a shit, but I do care if I'm representing Neptune or if I'm representing UCD - how do I act, how do I conduct myself? To be honest with you after most games, I'd be looking back and going, can I do this better? Could I have done that? Could I not have done that or reacted that way?

Also the team as well, like if I'm reacting a certain way, then that gives them every right to do the same. I'm no different than them. So yeah, it's just being a leader and that's my emotions as well and body language and things like that. So like that's all been developed in the last couple of years.

What do you think has been the biggest development in your coaching philosophy to date?

My coaching philosophy, at the beginning when I first started four years ago, solely would have been based on who I would have been coached by, whether it be in Ireland, Irish teams or the United States and I guess in the last four years, it's really developed and it's probably the polar opposite of where I started.

I was lucky to do my undergrad in MTU, Cork in Sports and Exercise Management and I was surrounded by a lot of great coaches - Ed Coughlan, Alan Dunton, Sam Jermyn, who's Head of S&C for the Ireland women's senior team. They challenged me. They really did challenge me and I had a lot of challenging moments. I didn't care about a lot of the subjects, but when it came to the coaching subjects, my hand was first up and being involved and I thought I was the big boy and I guess I was really challenged in those moments and it was for the best of me.

My philosophy is simple and would be on the same kind of lines as Colin O'Reilly and Ciaran O'Sullivan is, you know, trying to relate it to a game-scenario at all times. My sessions are simple, we're either playing 5v5 or we're shooting. It's one or the other. I don't do walk-throughs, I don't stop sessions....rarely. I don't like the lads standing around listening to me. It's not my show, that's my kind of philosophy. It's not my show, it's theirs and I'm just a small part of it, to help setting it up.

We always kind of speak about it with my U20's this year and the last couple of years, but especially this year - is being comfortable within chaos. The game of basketball is chaos. You can't, as a coach, control every possession. You shouldn't be trying to control every possession. I'm trying to get my lads to a position where I call it chaos, but after time it doesn't become chaos because they're so comfortable within it and they're controlled.

It's simple. It's just playing 5v5. There's nothing against zero. There's no one v zero, two v zero, five v zero. Everything is against opposition, like in a game. I learned a lot of constraints led approaches in MTU and I've tried to implement that at all times. Then I get a lot from Colin and Ciaran, just kind of studying them and they'd been the same boat.

But yeah, I guess being comfortable in chaos is my thing for this year and I kind of see the benefits - my lads want to be at training. They want to compete. They look forward to it. They have a smile on their face most of the time, but at the end of the day, they're 17, 18, 19, 20 year-old men. I don't need to teach them how to pivot. I don't need to teach them how to cut. If they ask me to, I will, but it's given them just the platform to be themselves. And these are things that they've learned since they're younger. I only have them for three hours a week so it's let's play for those three hours and less talking  from me. I don't use cones, you don't see cones on a  basketball court, so I'm totally against cones.  Everything is 5v5 or else we're shooting the basketball. They're the two most important things for me.

Has your own journey with Rebel Wheelers/Neptune/UCD given you a different outlook as a coach?

Wheelers, Neptune, UCD, they've all shaped my coaching career in a different way. I guess, Neptune is where I started and where I am now. They gave me that platform immediately, which was extremely nice of them and they wanted to keep me in the club as well, so I'd be fairly grateful for that. But you know, with Wheelers, I don't get involved in coaching.

I like to keep Wheelers separate. That's where I play basketball and Neptune, that's where I coach basketball or where I coach able bodied basketball. Just learning the game of wheelchair basketball was difficult for me at the beginning. It's a lot different. It's similar, but it's a lot different. I say wheelchair basketball is 70 % wheelchair skills and 30 % basketball and it's something I had to adapt to - and my ego was hurt at the beginning and it still is hurt to be honest with you - but I'm getting there.

 Adam Drummond coaching his Neptune U20 team during a timeout in the National Cup.

UCD was great for me, being involved in a Super League set-up there, learning from Ioannis (Liapakis) and how he approaches things was amazing. I was looking after the video and scouting for them, so you know I watched more basketball last year than I did with any other team or any other year. It taught me a lot of things about commitment and getting the video in on time and those kind of challenges were tough, but it was rewarding. We had a great season and being a part of that, I'll always be a part of that. I was grateful for that and the people that I met along the way up there were great.

There's things that Ioannis used last year - sets, x's and o's - that I used this year for my Neptune U20's, so I guess all of them have shaped me as a coach and a player in their own way, be honest.

Would you have any advice for any young wheelchair basketball player or coach who’d also like to get into coaching able bodied sport?

It's difficult, I probably had a seamless transition because I was already a part of Neptune before my injury and I was in a wheelchair. So, you know, I would love to see a bridge be formed, a better bridge be formed between, you know, wheelchair basketball and able-bodied basketball, especially when it comes to coaching. There's a lot of great minds in wheelchair basketball and able-bodied basketball and I think it would be a relationship that, you know, both parties would benefit from. I'd love to see it more.

There isn't many out there. I'm only aware of one other man that's in a wheelchair or spinal cord injury that coaches able bodied basketball. That's with Limerick Celtics U11's, so it's uncommon, extremely uncommon. I can't speak for the lads, but I guess it opens their minds up to people of disabilities, you know my U20's or UCD last year or Neptune as a club, it opens their minds up to people with disabilities and even the renovations that Neptune put in this year to make (Neptune Stadium) more accessible, probably wouldn't have been done if my situation wasn't the way it is.

I would just love to see more clubs follow the same suit and able-bodied clubs be more welcoming and reaching out to wheelchair basketball clubs in their local areas, whether it be partnerships, using the gym or coaching. I know first hand there'll be a lot of lads in wheelchairs my age who'd love to get involved and coach underage teams. I hope I can be an example of that.

What are your goals as a coach and a leader for the future?

I'm competitive fellow. I think my goals as a coach were probably the same as a player in able-bodied basketball or in wheelchair basketball. That's to coach at the highest level I can. I coached as an assistant at Super League level a couple of times. I've been a head coach of Neptune U20's, head coach in UCD College and I had opportunities last year to become a head coach in the National League and Super League level, but I think it's just reminding myself I don't want to skip steps, to be honest.

I don't want to kind of fast track it. I don't really want to be fast tracked. I think I know when the time will be right and last summer it didn't feel right. So I'm comfortable at the level I am now coaching U20 and BIDL in Neptune. I'm able to learn. I'm able to make my decisions, but more importantly, I'm able to make mistakes and I think I wouldn't have been ready to make mistakes at the Super League or the National League level. I think that might change maybe going into next year. I've got goals to coach Irish teams, underage Irish teams in the next couple of years and get involved in that side as well, so it'll either be Irish teams or it'll be going coaching at the Super League or National League level again.

So yeah, I just kind of try to keep it in today, to be honest. We've a game now against Ballina on the U20's National Cup quarter-final on Sunday. So that's my focus and getting around that. When this season's over, I'll see what my options are, what's best for me and I need to take into account that I'm still a player as well.

I need to decide what route I want to go down and whether it be the professional basketball route with wheelchair basketball or coaching at the highest level in this country. I enjoy both and it's probably a good problem to have.