International

Jul 03 2022

Meet The Fultons: Adrian & CJ

Q: CJ, firstly welcome home and back to the international set-up, you’ve been away with Winchendon Hoops and most recently with Lafayette, how has that experience been over in the United States?

I have really enjoyed my time in the US but there is no place like home! The year at Winchendon was badly disrupted by Covid but I met a lot of great people there.The opportunity to play at Winchendon helped me get the offer of a basketball scholarship at Lafayette.

My freshman year at Lafayette went well on the court and academically. I learned a lot. The style is very different from European basketball but we are basically training like professional athletes. I had a good year but it would have been nice to win a few more games and hopefully we will have a better record next year.

Q: You’ve impressed in your first season in NCAA Division 1, making the Rookie Team in the Patriot League with Lafayette, how pleasing was that?

Well it was pleasing for sure. There’s a certain amount of pressure on you when you are on a scholarship and getting the opportunity to play a lot as a Freshman was a bonus.

The personal accolades are nice but I know there are plenty of areas for improvement and I believe I can do even better next year.

Q: What do you think have been the biggest improvements to your game since you moved abroad, working with the likes of Coach O’Hanlon at Lafayette?

Coach O is an incredible man and was great to play for. He has an amazing knowledge of the game. I built up a good relationship with the coaching staff and they helped me in lots of areas. Obviously getting physically stronger has helped me a lot. There are so many great athletes in D1 College that you have to be in great condition to play. Also, it is so intense out there and I have a better appreciation of how important it is to be right mentally going into each game. We have a new staff now headed by Coach Mike Jordan and he and his new staff (including Sean O’Brien who played in Killarney a couple of years ago) have been terrific also so I’m excited at the opportunity of playing for them next year.

Q: Adrian, where do you see the strides in CJ’s game that you’ve witnessed while watching from your sofa back home at 3am?!

CJ is bigger and stronger which has a knock on effect at both ends of the floor. Just having the opportunity to practice every day with the team and go through individual workouts will make you better. The 3am finishes are brutal……particularly when they lose!

Q: You’ve obviously coached CJ throughout his career, All-Ireland Schools Cup glory with St. Malachy’s, the Belfast Star team which won the Super League in 2020 and as assistant coach with the national team when you won the FIBA European Championship for Small Countries in 2021, how much pleasure have you got from being part of his journey throughout, with the bonus of having plenty of medal success along the way?

CJ is very dedicated to his craft. He deserves great respect for what he has done so far in the game but there have been so many great people who have had such an influence on his development. The family circle are his biggest fans (and critics!) and coaches like Brian McCreanor, Gerard Ryan, Phil Molloy have shaped him massively. He is fortunate to have been surrounded from a young age by a group of friends his own age who enjoyed the ride with him as well as older players on the Super League squad who have been fantastic mentors.

Q: Is it all basketball chat at the dinner table, or is it banned?!

Getting Jackie, Jennah and Katie, along with the 2 of us around the dinner table is like a solar eclipse- it doesn’t happen very often but when it does anything goes at the dinner table.

Q: How do you balance being a dad and coach?

With difficulty! My wife Jackie is the steady influence in our household so she helps us get the balance right.

Q: CJ, would you say he’s your biggest critic and biggest supporter in one?! It must be nice to be able to pick his brains, as well as those of your grandad Danny?

My Dad thinks I’m my own biggest critic which is probably a fair assessment but my Dad has done so much in the game he is great to have in my corner. My Grandad is amazing - we all call him DF and he is great fun to be around. My other Grandad Seamie is a former Donegal football star and he also gives me advice but mostly on the golf course!

Q: You won the FIBA European Championship for Small Countries in August 2021 together, what was that experience like?

It was amazing. Definitely one of the highlights of my career so far. The older guys on the team were really helpful and supportive (big shout out to my roommate Neil Randolph) and just great to be around. Having my Dad on the staff for my senior debut was obviously a massive help as I was definitely a little nervous making the jump to the senior team. Unfortunately it was behind closed doors but it was definitely a lot of fun.

Q: Adrian, you won the 1994 Promotions Cup tournament as a player alongside Mark Keenan and then teamed up again as his assistant with the senior team, you’ve had quite the international journey together! What has been key to your success as a coaching panel along with Puff Summers, team manager Mike Hickey and Andrew Lane?

Teamwork and role definition. Mark is a great leader and ultimately isn’t afraid to make big decisions but he consults with us a lot. He has that calmness but also a steely desire to win and that is why he has been so successful in his playing and coaching career. Puff has both great energy and a great knowledge of the game. He thinks about the game a lot and is terrific at player development. Andrew has fitted in perfectly as team physio, the players love him and Mike is simply the rock of the group.

His military background allied to his basketball knowledge and calm demeanour allow the rest of us to do our jobs. He and Mark deal with so much behind the scenes almost 24/7 which could be a distraction but they manage to deal brilliantly with all the external factors.

Q: CJ, you missed out on the first few FIBA EuroBasket games due to commitments in the USA, were you looking on with a degree of envy?

Yeah I was mad that I couldn’t play. I obviously watched the games and the lads did great but I would have loved to have been there.

Q: CJ, being back training with the Irish camp, I guess it’s felt like you’ve never been away?

We have our group chat and there is always plenty of banter (with JB and JC normally in the middle of it) when guys are playing all over the place during the season so its nice to stay in touch. We have had a few injuries and we haven’t been able to get together as often as we would have liked but we are pretty familiar with the style we want to play and are looking forward to the 2 games.

Q: Adrian, no doubt you’ve been filling him in throughout the year and I guess as part of the coaching staff there have been players who’ve been drafted in for different windows, what are main challenges integrating new or returning players?

Unfortunately we just don’t yet have the budget of other nations competing at this level. We would love to get a couple of weeks together at a training camp which would give us plenty of time to integrate new and returning players. At our level, going up against fully professional teams, we need to get the talent that we have on to the floor playing with great chemistry. So our biggest challenge is the lack of time together. The players have been fantastic and it’s nice to be able welcome some of the lads who weren’t available back into the squad.

Q: CJ, how excited are you to make your FIBA EuroBasket bow and with plenty on the line with the team very much in contention just a point behind Austria and Switzerland in the group?

Very much looking forward to it. I played against Slovakia in 2 warm up games before the Small Nations and they are at a similar level so I have a pretty good idea what to expect. I think anything less than 2 wins puts us in a difficult position to qualify but that’s a dangerous position for other teams because we can come out and just go for it.

Q: Adrian, what’s been the main messaging to players from Mark Keenan, yourself and Puff Summers ahead of this window, with two tough tests on the horizon, away against Austria and at home against Switzerland?

Just as CJ said. Austria and Switzerland are excellent and we will have to be at our very best to get the wins. We certainly don’t fear them. We need to be a little better defensively and on the boards. Hopefully that will help us generate some easier baskets and give us a platform for success.

Q: What are the main lessons you’ve derived from those games?

That we can play at this level for sure and we deserve to be here.

Q: Both, how much of a boost was it when the announcement that TG4 would be showing both of the games in the June/July EuroBasket window?

We really appreciate the support of TG4 in our attempts to raise the profile of the game here. They obviously do a wonderful job covering GAA and most people recognise the crossover in skills. Hopefully we can reach a wider audience. We hope that the basketball community come out in their numbers to support us which will help us massively as they did when we played Cyprus. It will also make the experience for the TG4 viewers much better.

Q: And finally, after a busy year on court, what do you do to switch off from it?

Well we normally try to get a family holiday in but that probably won’t happen unfortunately. CJ is off to play for the U20 team in Georgia and we have followed him all over Europe the last number of years and made a holiday out of it. This year we have a family wedding so we wont make it.

That’s a pity because Jennah and Katie have been flat out with exams and Jackie in work. They deserve a holiday! In August I am back at it with Mark Ingle and Mark Scannell running Rip n Run and then it’s a week off and back to school and pre-season. I try to get some golf in (still trying to beat my father in law Seamie who is an absolute bandit) and down to all the in laws in Donegal which is always relaxing. A bit of Netflix but definitely not Love Island!