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| Forward | |
| Born | 1969 Belfast, Northern Ireland |
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| Nationality | Irish |
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
| Weight | 260 lb (118 kg) |
| Pro career | 1985–2005 |
| Former teams | Team Smithwicks, Star Of The Sea, St Malachy’s Old Boys, Queen's Basketball Club |
| Awards | Arthur Ashe award for Courage, twice represented the Northern Ireland Universities basketball team at the BUCS games |
David Cullen (born 1969 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a former basketball player who currently assists the organisation Full Court Peace with its work in Northern Ireland. David has attended and currently works for Queen's University Belfast.
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Basketball career
Dave started playing basketball in the senior leagues for Team Smithwicks at 16 years old, but had to pretend he was 18 to be available for selection. He them moved to Star of the Sea at age 20 who compete in the Irish Super League, the top level of basketball in Ireland which involves professional players brought in from America.
At age 25, David moved to the newly founded Queen's Basketball Club. He also enrolled as a mature student at Queen's, which enabled him to play for the varsities team. This led to David twice representing the Northern Ireland Universities basketball team at the BUCS games. It was through the varsity team that David met Sean Tuohey and became involved with Peace Players International (formally Playing For Peace).
In 2008 David founded Full Court Peace, an organisation that uses basketball to cultivate and inspire enduring friendships between teenagers from rival communities in war-torn regions of the world.
David is currently the General Manager/Coach of Belfast Tropics.
Queen's Invitational Basketball Tournament
David is the organiser of the largest pre-season basketball tournament in Northern Ireland, The Queen's Invitational Basketball Tournament[1][2][3] (formerly known as the Errigle Inn Invitational tournament). The Tournament has been up and running for over 5 years now and clubs such as Star of the Sea, Tolka Rovers and North Star Basketball Club have lifted the trophy. Teams from England, Cyprus and America have attended the competition.
Arthur Ashe Courage Award
On Wednesday 11 July 2007, David Cullen and Trevor Ringland received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 2007 ESPY awards[4][5] for their work with PeacePlayers International
Notes
David is also a published poet, having contributed a poem to the book "You Can't Eat Flags For Breakfast"[6]
David has been added to the Streetball Ireland Hall of Fame[7]
Dave has his own fan site on BEBO called "The Dave Cullen Amazed and Bewildered Society" [8]
References
- ^ Queen's Invitational Basketball Tournament website
- ^ gotobelfast.com reference to Errigle Inn Invitational Tournament
- ^ Belfast.World-guides.com reference to Errigle Inn Invitational Tournament
- ^ ESPN article on Peace Players International
- ^ ESPY Awards Roundup
- ^ Amazon UK listing for "You Can't Eat Flags For Breakfast", a book including one of David's poems.
- ^ Streetball Ireland website
- ^ [1]
External links
- Video of David Cullen and Trevor Ringland accepting the 2007 Arthur Ashe Courage Award from Samuel L Jackson at the 2007 ESPY Awards ceremony
- Official ESPN ESPY awards site
- The Ireland Funds article on Peace Players International (formally Playing For Peace)
- Full Court Peace
- Queen's Basketball Club
- David losing a game of 1-on-1 against a female basketball coach
- Dave's bebo fan site
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