Kieron Achara: the man, the basketball and the career

“Your disposable at any point….which actually mentally frazzled me from the game because I realised I had zero control over”

Kieron Achara MBE is a 37-year-old standing at 6ft 7in’s, hailing from Stirling, Scotland, and is a retired British international basketball player, but throughout his journey in life. The opportunities have taken him down different paths, even to the other side of the world. They have thrown challenges that most wouldn’t need to overcome to succeed.

Kieron may be Scottish, but he has had the opportunity and luck to study in the USA not once but twice. Firstly, he got his high school education at the Maine Central Institute; he was scouted for Duquesne for university. He graduated in 08, both in Pittsburgh, and played for their basketball teams.

He spoke for the first time about losing teammates and classmates from a terrifying school shooting. At the same time of studying in the USA, though when the topic came up, he seemed like he wasn’t too keen on speaking about it but then again, who would.

Around the topic of role models just who Kieron looked towards and up to when he was younger, role models who were black were in his eyes scarce, especially here at home. Still, when pushed, who would be the first, he talked of regarding former Rangers player Mark Walters in the perception of being in the sporting world that he could see as a role model.

Achara talked about Tim Duncan, an Edinburgh rocks basketball player. He felt that he had a better understanding of the game of basketball after meeting him, even though Tim played in a different position than he did at the time knowledge can always come in handy no matter where you play on the team.

Even though Kieron didn’t get drafted by an NBA team, it may have helped develop him into an international class player who ended up the youngest to play for Scotland. Still, he had the determination to aim for more, so he represented both Scotland and Team GB at significant tournaments worldwide, including the 2012 Olympics & the 2018 Commonwealth Games. When you are just looking at the players that lined up against GB & Achara in London was an all-star team that had the likes of Kobe Bryant and Le Bron James.

Looking at Achara’s club path, he forged out that he had the chance to play professionally in multiple European leagues outside the UK for clubs in Italy, Spain, and Greece over the years. Those clubs varied from top division to second division level, but as he would say, “I wanted a challenge”.

He has accumulated over 2000 points in the British Basketball League (BBL) and captained many teams throughout his career.

After Kieron stepped away from the court, he didn’t precisely fully walk away. Instead, he joined the Sky Sports basketball broadcast team. Kieron seems to enjoy the new challenge laid in front of him, though not everyone who has retired from playing sports has transitioned into broadcasting so easy. It just shows that it isn’t easy; some have failed. Yet still, Kieron has hit the ground running and is making it look natural.

In late 2019 Kieron joined frog systems, they are a mental and well-being health company, as the sports development executive. He said at the time of joining

“being different posed many challenges, and I have learned to embrace and value my uniqueness over the years.” “I’m hoping that Frog will give sportspeople a platform to talk about their personal challenges for the benefit of others.”

With Kieron’s playing career finished, he can turn his hands towards challenges and potentially help people deal with what looks to be a passionate idea. That could be passing knowledge and tips on dealing with the current world that includes the heavy use of social media.

One can only step back and hope for success.

I thank Kieran for giving up his time for this piece.
You can find Kieran on social media via the icons below