JOHN RUSSELL hopes his Sligo all-stars can benefit from him seeing the Sligo All Stars in midweek.
Sligo Rovers boss Russell prepared for tonight’s clash with bottom side Derry City by going to watch Super League basketball outfit the All Stars beat Maree on Wednesday.
He went to see the All Stars shoot some hoops after learning they had been at The Showgrounds last week to see the Bit O’Red shoot down the Hoops, nailing a three-pointer with a 2-1 win over Shamrock Rovers.
But Russell is a big fan of basketball anyway, admitting he was not a bad player growing up in Moycullen in Galway.
He said: “I like to think I was decent at the time.
“I was point guard, I wasn’t the biggest so I wasn’t going to be getting rebounds. But I liked to shoot a three-pointer.
“I would have been in Connacht squads but I stopped not long after starting secondary school.
“I was at ‘The Bish’ in Galway, St Joseph’s College, it’s known for its sport and we were actually decent at basketball when I was in first year.”
Now in management, he admitted that what he learnt on the court himself and what he sees now can be applied to football.
He added: “I’d be a big fan of futsal. Futsal and basketball would be quite similar, it would be a lot of transitions, end to end.
“But when the ball goes out of play, it allows you to set up, to get blocks, to get rotations, so that is the game in soccer in terms of set-pieces.
“We brought Jesse Acteson in this year as set-piece coach.
“We’ve got a return which is really good, we do work on movements and getting blocks which is a bit of a crossover there. You can take from other sports.”
Set-piece joy has helped Sligo bounce back from three defeats to start the season with four points from their last two games.
But the fact his side have belatedly started picking up results means Russell is taking nothing for granted against a labouring Derry team.
He warned: “They’ve invested a lot and have aspirations to go and win the league.
“Sometimes it takes time to gel and there is little doubt that they have signed quality.
“But it’s always about us, we need to bring our strengths into the game.”
