Vanarama sponsored Hemel Storm Basketball Club “Storm”, a forward-thinking organisation who proudly represent their community in the English men’s National League Division 1, today announce a brand new and exciting alliance with the USA based player agency VOX Sports Group.
VOX Sports Group, which is headquartered in New York, was co-founded by Ryan Mulvaney and Trevonn Morton. Ryan himself is an NBA & FIBA certified agent and the organisation represents emerging and established basketball playing talent and NCAA coaches & entertainers worldwide.
Those who follow Storm closely will recognise that Ryan is the agent of Storm’s fantastic American duo Mike Williams and Greg Poleon. Storm and Ryan have been working closely together since the spring of 2019 and its partnership that has quickly flourished.
Both parties believe they can offer a unique player development opportunity to USA based talent. By working closely with Storm’s Director of Basketball Jon Burnell and with a focus on the identification of player targets and personalities to ensure a fit with the established culture at Hemel Storm, the partnership has huge potential to help shape the lives of young players as they leave the USA college system and embark on a professional playing career.
Under the plans being developed, it would see Storm and VOX Sports being able to position and offer player employment and accommodation, player coaching qualifications and coaching opportunities, alongside the potential of post-graduate study with our partner at the University of Hertfordshire. In parallel to all of this, will be an agreed player development strategy that will use the networks of both organisations to create further professional opportunities for recruited players.
Hemel Chairman Tony Humphrey said “I believe this could be a significant moment for Storm. Our relationship with Ryan has been a very natural and progressive one since our very first call 18 months ago. Key elements of what can be positioned to players who wish to consider Hemel Storm are now firmly in place and we have delivered against them.
Given the success of Mike and Greg’s placement, that has captured the love and imagination of all Storm fans as well as the appreciation of schools in which they coach on a daily basis, I believe, that with Ryan’s commitment to push talent through to Hemel Storm, we now have the platform to reproduce this model into the future”
Ryan commented “When I first met Jon and Tony as we negotiated the original placement of Mike and Greg, we just hit it off and it’s been great fun ever since. The most important thing for VOX Sports when placing clients is aligning clients with a top-notch organization; top-notch in that they genuinely care for our clients, and that our clients will be challenged to grow as professionals on the court, but also grow as young men off the court.
Basketball is basketball. How our clients are treated, however, is paramount. And it became immediately clear that Storm genuinely cared for, and indeed protected and watched out for the best interests of Greg and Mike particularly during the most challenging time facing our shared world – the pandemic. Storm’s response to the pandemic and acting immediately to safeguard Greg and Mike is something that I will never forget. In addition, the way the Storm fans truly embraced Greg and Mike was moving. The partnership was a no-brainer.
It’s truly exciting to formalise this model, where we work together to create a funnel of targeted player options for Storm and aim to work strategically to develop player pathways, that create progressive opportunities through the professional levels of English and European basketball”.
Under the terms of the agreement, VOX Sports Group will also become a sponsor of Hemel Storm and their logo and contact page will begin to appear via appropriate communications in the very near future.
