CLUB legend James Hamilton has returned to the Cheshire Jets to take up the role of head coach.
The 6ft 7ins icon – who will also play for the team – has promised fans an exciting season, no matter what happens.
“It’s going to be a wild ride, unlike anything this club has seen before,” he said. “I can’t say how it will play out. All I can promise is we will play hard and we won’t roll over and let people stomp on us because we understand the commitment the supporters have put in to try to make this happen so we can have a team.”
The Jets were thrust into crisis in early August when talks between director Pete Hawkins – who could no longer run the club – and a potential new owner broke down.
With just six weeks to go until the season began, many people feared that the Jets would fold. But thanks to the dedication of the supporters, a campaign by The Chronicle and a leap of faith by Chester businessman Haydn Cook, with a fortnight remaining, the club was indeed saved.
Hamilton, who hails from Michigan, was officially revealed to fans at a meeting on Friday in Ye Olde Custom House pub in Chester, as new owner Cook began trying to ensure the Jets could be ready for the start of the BBL Championship season.
The 2012-13 campaign is likely to start now on September 29, away at Leicester Riders, after the Jets submitted an application to delay their forthcoming Northgate Arena opener against Manchester Giants.
If confirmed, the Jets’ first home game will be the derby against Mersey Tigers on October 7.
The delay would give Hamilton more time to get his players in and ready, and he has already revealed a couple of names who are signed and sealed.
“Chez Marks will be back,” he said. “I have other guys but that’s all I can disclose until all the paperwork is finalised.
“I know what I get with Chez. It’s hard to get a veteran player on a low budget so to get Chez in, he will be one of my older mature guys to help teach my younger guys when they get in.
“Shawn Myers will be back too. He will be one of the oldest players in the league at 43 but he’s sort of like a freak of nature anyway.
“He doesn’t age, he’s still 30 really.”
Hamilton added: “You’ve got to have that mix of young and old. If you look at those teams that have won championships and win it over and over, it’s teams with a good balance of older and younger players. You’ve got to have young legs and older minds.”
And at 40, Hamilton is asking a lot of himself to return to professional basketball after a two-year absence.
“I took a couple of years off and I was very content with myself,” he said. “My body had a chance to rest and heal and I had my Athletes Against Bullying programme that filled the void for me.
“For a while I didn’t think I wanted to play any more because I’d been doing it since I was 10 and I’d been a professional for 20 years so I had quite a lot of wear on the body. But I’m happy to be back.
“Our main objective was to put a team on the floor this year because we figured if we didn’t, the team would never come back.”
