Chantelle Handy appointed Assistant Coach of GB Basketball

Former Olympian and GB Basketball icon Chantelle Handy has been appointed Assistant Coach of the Senior Women’s Team for Great Britain’s upcoming EuroBasket campaign next month.

A veteran of the national team, having earned 142 caps for her country, Handy will transition from draining step-back threes to orchestrating the offence from the sidelines, maintaining the fire and dedication that defined her 17-year international career.

I think being a player for GB for many, many years, it's obviously extra special because it's that team again,” said Coach Handy. I'm very comfortable in the GB environment as a player, but now it's taking a totally different transition as a coach, so I'm really looking forward to it.Chantelle Handy, GB Women's Assistant Coach

Handy made her debut for GB Basketball at the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket Division B 2006/07 at just 19 years old as a college freshman at Marshall University in West Virginia. Her rapid improvement and tenacious attitude ensured she quickly became a stalwart for her country, competing in numerous EuroBasket campaigns and becoming an Olympian at the 2012 London Games.

“The Olympics were a big one for us. Having that experience to be an Olympian and be with the team, and how much we’d worked to get there, was huge.”

A lights-out shooter and physical defender, the forward from Consett, Northumbria, played an integral role in Great Britain’s improbable run to the semi-finals of EuroBasket 2019.

“For me, that’s probably the highlight of my GB career…

“That Eurobasket, we were the underdogs. We had talented players, don’t get me wrong, but we had a culture that really struck and built what GB could be for the next upcoming generation.

“That summer, we really showed that GB could be a team that could be on the map.”

Handy enjoyed a well-travelled professional career which began in Athens and continued in Turkey, France, Sweden, Poland, Italy, Belgium, Spain and Latvia.

She returned to the United Kingdom in 2022, when she joined the newly formed Caledonia Gladiators of the Women's British Basketball League.

After a successful 2022/23 season in which the team reached the knockout stages of the EuroCup Women, Handy’s leadership and tactical acumen earned her the dual role of Player-Assistant Coach for the 2023/24 season, beginning her coaching career.

She also took charge of GB Basketball’s Under-20s at the FIBA U-20 Women's European Championships in 2023.

After retiring from her playing career in May 2024, Handy ascended to Head Coach of the Gladiators for the 2024/25 season, leading the team to victory in the Betty Codona Trophy final, winning silverware for a Scottish basketball club for the first time.

“It’s been a transition, and it’s still a transition. I’m so early in my coaching career, and I’m aware there’s so much to learn.

“It probably happened a bit quicker than I expected last year, but I think it’s been good, kind of ‘throw yourself in the deep end’ and see how you handle it.

“It’s been tough. As a player, you’re used to looking after you and being responsible for yourself.

“As a coach, that totally changes because you’re now responsible for 12 players, you’re now responsible for staff and management, and it's a totally different environment.

“I’m very lucky to have a very good staff around me up here at the Gladiators, it's a club that really supports my development.”

Handy will join Head Coach Anna Montañana, a former Euroleague champion and Minnesota Lynx forward, for the EuroBasket this June as Great Britain seeks to advance from a challenging group.

“I’m super excited about being under another coach, having different learning aspects of that and really trying to take as much as I can from it within that environment.

“International basketball is the highest level you can compete at, and she’s done that as a player, she’s done that with teams she coached in Spain at a very high level in both the men’s and women’s game.

“She kind of did the same transition as I did from player to coach, so it's been really interesting to pick her brain about how she managed that and learn from her experience.

“She’s coming in at the right time, she’s exactly what the team needs.

“She’s coming in with the passion and the desire to improve and have players develop.”

The Senior Women’s Team will face Spain on 19th June to open their Eurobasket drive, before taking on Sweden, who narrowly defeated Great Britain 63-60 in a qualifying fixture in November, and Germany to round out Group D.

No doubt Head Coach Montañana must rely on Handy’s vast experience of the European game as well as her valuable perspective as a former teammate of much of Great Britain’s squad as her side look to cause some upsets in a challenging group.

“I think the group worked really well together in the [international] window,” said Handy on the qualification fixtures in November.

“It's a young group, you know, and we've got a few experienced players left, and we've got a lot of young players coming through, so the dynamic is quite nice.

“It's about getting that balance right.

“It’ll be a tough group, but I think we’ve just got to take the bull by the horns and go and compete and just go about the GB way like we always have done.”