Ankit Wadera has joined the Ellsworth Community College men’s basketball coaching staff as an assistant coach.
Wadera brings a unique background to the ECC program, having coached in Canada for the past 10 years. He got his start in the coaching field at the AAU level with the Northern Kings AAU programs. The Northern Kings play in the Under Armour Circuit. Ankit worked as an assistant coach and head video coordinator, helping to develop many renowned NCAA Division I athletes, including last year’s national Player of the Year, Zach Edey from Purdue.
From his stint in AAU, Ankit spent time as an assistant coach and video coordinator for the Guelph Nighthawks in the inaugural season of the Canadian Elite Basketball League, a summer league that recruited many elite ex-NBA players, G-League players and overseas stars and has grown exponentially since its inception.
Before jumping to his current role at ECC, Ankit worked for the last four years as an assistant coach with a leadership role in managing video and analytics. At Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, the team advanced to the postseason every year he was there and achieved its highest ranking in school history at number-six in U Sports Canada in 2020.
In 2018-19 Ankit was selected as a finalist for the Wayne & Teresa Fellowship, a prestigious honor awarded by the Toronto Raptors for emulating the values of former NBA player Wayne Embry.
Ankit graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Management and Organizational Studies from the University of Western Ontario in 2019.
“Having spent the last 20-plus years in Canada, I am extremely excited to be a part of this program at Ellsworth Community College and, most importantly, the Iowa Falls community,” Ankit said. “I plan to work tirelessly in developing student-athletes on and off the court, helping the team win and making a mark on this beloved community.”
Coach Bender said, “Ankit has an elite basketball mind and a ton of experience for his age. His unique experiences in Canada will bring great value to our program. He has a hungry and passionate personality that will work well within our culture and I am so excited to have him be a part of our program.”
Wadera will join Demontrez Austin, whose hiring was announced last month, as an assistant on the Ellsworth men’s basketball coaching staff.
https://www.eccathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2023-24/releases/20230905j2pe5l
