Dean Williams (born 17 February 1977 in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

) is a British former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. He used to play for

Reading Rockets The Reading Rockets are an English semi-professional basketball club based in the town of Reading, England. Founded in 1997, the Rockets compete in NBL Division 1, the second tier of the British basketball system. History The Rockets were f ...

and he is now teaching maths in Jumeirah College in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

. The 6 ft 3 in tall Guard was educated at Marjon's and has played internationally for the England national team. Williams started his professional

career for the

London Towers London Towers were a professional basketball team based in London, England. They enjoyed considerable success in the 1990s and early 2000s, collecting 3 titles in the British Basketball League (BBL) as well as regularly competing in European c ...

, having previously played for the amateur club

Brixton Topcats Brixton TopCats is a British basketball club based in the Brixton area of London. Established in 1985, the Men's first team currently compete in the National Basketball League Division 2, and the Women's team compete in the Women's British Bask ...

. He left the Towers in 2000 to join National Basketball League team the

Plymouth Raiders The Plymouth Raiders was a professional basketball team based in Plymouth, England. The team competed in the British Basketball League, the country's premier basketball competition. The club was founded in 1983 through a merger between two lo ...

, where he spent four successful seasons before moving back into the top-flight with teammate

Roderick Wellington Roderick Wellington also known as "The Duke" (born in Tooting, England) was a British professional basketball player, and played for the Leicester Riders in the British Basketball League amongst others. The 6 ft 5in tall Forward was educa ...

, both of whom joined

British Basketball League The British Basketball League (BBL) is a men's professional basketball league in Great Britain and represents the highest level of play in the countries. The league is contested by 10 teams from England and Scotland. There are no clubs howeve ...

team the

Thames Valley Tigers Thames Valley Tigers was a British professional basketball team that competed in the British Basketball League (BBL) until 2005, when funding was ceased and the franchise folded. Based in Bracknell, Berkshire, the team's fans set up a new team to ...

in 2004, the same year that the Raiders also made the jump to the BBL. After one season with the Tigers, the club folded, and through the efforts of local fans a new club was set up to replace them, the Guildford Heat, of which Dean was a part of the first roster of the new club. In 2009, Williams moved to newly created

Essex Pirates The Essex Pirates were a British Basketball League team from Southend-on-Sea, in the county of Essex. They were founded in 2009 and played their home games at the Southend Leisure & Tennis Centre. Following the loss of a major sponsor, the fran ...

to become part of their first roster, just like at Guildford 4 years earlier. He played for Guildford Heat until the end of the 2011/12 season. He joined Reading Rockets at the start of the 2012/13 season. During the 2012/2013 season, Dean suffered a knee injury, a partially torn ACL. He had surgery, which was successful. Following the surgery, Dean decided to focus on his career as a Maths teacher. He is currently a successful full-time mathematics teacher at Jumeirah College in Dubai, UAE, teaching Ks3, GCSE and A-Levels.

References

Living people 1977 births English men's basketball players Plymouth Raiders players Surrey Scorchers players Black British sportsmen English schoolteachers English expatriates in the United Arab Emirates Alumni of Plymouth Marjon University Guards (basketball) British Basketball League players {{UK-basketball-bio-stub