ALL CHANGE AT WORTHING THUNDER
Worthing Thunder today announces changes in the ownership and senior management of the Club.
After more than 10 seasons at the head of the organisation, Club Chairman, Frank Gainsbury and co-owner / director Dave Stanbridge will be handing over the reins to a new management team fronted up by Director of Basketball Zaire Taylor and current Club Secretary, Sara Jenner.
Frank Gainsbury said “We are delighted to hand over the control of Worthing Thunder to Zaire and Sara who are young and enthusiastic and ambitious for the future of the Club. We fully endorse their appointment and look forward to seeing the club go from strength-to-strength both on and off court.
It has been a privilege and an honour to front up Thunder for the last 11 seasons and we are indeed lucky to have a truly community based organisation here in Worthing. Both Dave and I have regarded ourselves as custodians of the Club seeking to ensure that at all costs we continued to see top-class basketball remaining in Worthing. Both Zaire and Sara have the best interests of the club in their heart and are determined to see the club continue with it’s successes.
The Club now has a wide-ranging schools programme which provides free basketball coaching to hundreds of children in and around the Worthing area. Aside from continuing with and developing this worthwhile pogramme, the new Directors have other ambitious commercial and basketball initiatives to see the club prosper further in the future. Both Dave and I think it is time to hand over the club to a younger generation who will have the time and opportunity to see the Club reach even greater heights and we do so with full confidence and our ongoing support.
We would both wish to express our heart-felt thanks to the amazing band of volunteers who have made our club such a success and the fans who so loyally support the team each season as well as the players who have given so much to the Club. Worthing Thunder has a reputation as being one of the friendliest and most professionally run organisations in the league where opposing teams and officials look-forward to our match-night experience and the welcome they receive when they come visiting. I recall an unsolicited comment from one of our fellow clubs at a Basketball England AGM when he said – “If you want to see how things should be done go to Worthing”. This is testimony that the Clubs should be really proud of and it is the bench-mark to which we have always aspired. It could not of have been achieved of course without the hard work so many people devote to Thunder. We hope that everybody will get behind the new management team and continue to make Thunder a Club which Worthing can truly continue to be proud of.”
New managing director Zaire Taylor said: “I would like to thank Frank Gainsbury and Dave Stanbridge for providing this opportunity to take on the responsibility of taking this Club forward. It’s an amazing opportunity to have and I would also want to thank Sara for her help and without whom I couldn’t even imagine myself being able to take on this challenge. We have had some successful seasons of late, and I like to think that this is just the beginning of an exciting future for Worthing Thunder”