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Great Britain Women secured their first win in MEN'S AND WOMEN'S FIXTURES/RESULTS ........................................................................................
SHEFFIELD JUNIOR SHARKS DEFEAT NEW ENGLAND COLONIALS Sheffield Junior Sharks 81 (16, 38, 51) Last year at the Flanders tournament, these teams faced each other in the semi-final, with Sharks pulling away in the fourth quarter for a tough win in the best game of basketball at the tournament. Seven players from Sharks and two from the Colonials (Cruz and Reese) matched up again. READ THE FULL SHARKS REPORT HERE ........................................................................................ DATELINE 14 08 08 DON'T TOUCH THAT DIAL
GREG WILSON REFLECTS ON PICCADILLY RADIO'S ........................................................................................ DATELINE 13 08 08
........................................................................................ DATELINE 06 08 08 SHEFFIELD JUNIOR SHARKS TO TAKE ON
On Saturday August 16, at the English Institute of Sport Sheffield at 3pm, the New England Colonials, a basketball selection team from the various states of New England, will also be keen to show the supremacy of American basketball at the junior levels as well. Last year at the prestigious Flanders tournament in Belgium, the Sheffield Junior Sharks were the only team to inflict defeat on the Americans during their tour through Europe, which included Berlin and Stockholm. The Colonials now come to Sheffield, intent on revenge, bringing with them some of the most exciting players from New England. Point guard Naadir Tharpe, forward Dominique Bull and big man Tyler Olander are all already being recruited by big American Universities and they’ll be keen to show the Junior Sharks that America is the home of basketball.
The Sheffield Juniors Sharks U18s come with quite a pedigree of their own, winning plenty of national titles the last two years, and have players just returning from playing for England at the European championships. Leading the Junior Sharks will be big man Will Hall and point guard Nigel van Oostrum. Nigel will be playing his last game in a Junior Sharks vest, after accepting a scholarship in America at Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania. It is also the final game for James Anderson, who will play at the Gran Canaria basketball academy this season. From last year’s U16 national champions, point guard sensation Calvin Morant-Hudson and defensive terrier Mykel Moodie will be keen to show their U18 credentials. The game will be a big promotion for bringing the American and British basketball worlds together. With basketball legend Mike Shaft doing live game commentary at the EIS, the game will be an opportunity to show the best of both worlds. Entry is only £1 at the door. ......................................................................................... HEAR THE DRUMMER GET WICKED
ELECTROSPECTIVE EVENT TO TELL IT LIKE IT WAS
On Saturday August 30th 2008, Manchester District Music Archive (www.mdmarchive.co.uk) present a very special event at Islington Mill in Salford, to celebrate Manchester’s Electro-Funk and B Boy heritage. Through a mixture of talks, Q and A’s, screenings, and, of course, dancing, this event will attempt to tell the story of the city’s early ‘80s Electro-Funk scene, explaining how it sowed the seeds for subsequent developments as the decade unfolded. ......................................................................................... SURPRISE PARTY CATCHES HENRY OUT
Recently, the community of Liverpool turned out in style to pay tribute to one of their heroes ......................................................................................... 2008/09 FIXTURES RELEASED NEW BOYS WORTHING THUNDER WILL DEBUT AGAINST
FULL FIXTURE LIST FOR EARLY SEASON HERE
......................................................................................... GREAT BRITAIN TAKE 2 WINS FROM EUROPEAN VOLLEYBALL WEEKEND The Great Britain Men’s Volleyball team rose to new heights as they won their first matches in the European League at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield.
The GB team beat Portugal in their opening match in four sets and then thrillingly won a five-setter with Greece 25-19 23-25 19-25 25-21 15-10. It capped a fine weekend for Head Coach Harry Brokking's side who showed they can compete at this level. GB’s only defeat came at the hands of the awesome Slovakia 23-25 22-25 29-31 but, even then, they saved three match points in the third set and had three set points of their own before losing out. Slovakia went on to win all three matches over the weekend without losing a set to put themselves in a strong position to qualify for the final four. In this final game of the weekend, Great Britain started impressively against Greece and led 10-2 before successive blocks from Danny Weemes and Mark McGiven and a spike down the line from Mark Plotyczer took it to 17-8. But Greece fought their way back into the set and won the next five points with some solid blocking and a couple of impressive hits from the sensational Theoklitos Karipidis. But Karipidis made a couple of hitting errors late in the set as Great Britain held on to take the set 25-19 on a block from Mark McGivern. Greece came back strongly in the second set as Karipidis found his hitting range and consistently found holes in the GB block. And the hosts did not help themselves with some erratic serving and coach Harry Brokking changed his setter late in the set with O’Malley replacing Ben Pipes.
An outstanding block from Greek captain Sotirios Tsergas brought up set point for the Greeks at 24-19 but GB came back strongly in the set on the serving of Nathan Bennett. They saved four set points to take it to 23-24 before Mitar Tzourits finally found a way through to secure the set 25-23. Greece came out of the blocks quickly in the third set and led 7-0 before Pipes was replaced again for the remainder of the set by O’Malley. It left the hosts struggling to retrieve the set and the closest they narrowed the gap was to four points before a mishit serve from Andy Benson gave Greece set point which they took at the first opportunity to win 25-19. Pipes returned for the fourth set and Greece’s momentum was hit by an injury to their captain and setter Sotirios Tsergas who had to be carried off court after sustaining ankle ligament damage. The GB team took the set 25-21 and it gave them the momentum to finish the job in the fifth. They led throughout and had their first match point on a big block from Nathan Bennett. The Greeks salvaged one match point but Mark Plotyczer tipped the ball over the Greek block for the final point, to send the crowd home in rapture. In the day’s other game, Slovakia overwhelmed an injury-hit Portugal 25-15 25-15 25-12 to complete an impressive weekend. Results: European League: Latest standings:
......................................................................................... PATERNOSTRO STEPS UP TO HEAD COACH AT LEICESTER RIDERS Jelson Homes DMU Leicester Riders are delighted to announce the appointment of Rob Paternostro as their head coach for the 2008/09 season.
Riders Chairman Mark Ellis said, "We are obviously delighted to get our man and are very confident Rob will do a top job for the Club. Of course, we know Rob well from his previous stint with the Riders and his leadership qualities are there for all to see. A year ago he was one of the candidates we had considered as a player-coach, but Rob had already committed himself to Birmingham and thus was not in the final reckoning." As well as playing for the Riders in 2006-07, Paternostro had three stints with Birmingham interspersed with spells on the continent. During his time in the BBL he has a career average of just over 10 points per game, whilst his 5.2 assists per game average ranks him in the top dozen of all time in that category. Paternostro follows a long line of former Riders players to be appointed to the top job including the likes of Karl Brown, Dave Harris, Jerry Jenkins and Donaldson. "This will be Rob's first shot in a BBL hot seat, but we have a long, long history of giving our former players a chance to prove themselves as a coach. From Bob Wilson to Carl Olsson to Karl Brown, we have always looked at former players to make the step up," added Ellis. "Rob also has previous assistant coaching experience in the US and has stepped in at BBL level for short periods, when there were suspensions, etc. As an archetypal point guard, all of his coaches have looked to Rob for input, so throughout his playing career, he was effectively being groomed to take over. "With a playing career that has spanned Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, and Greece, as well as England, he has a very wide experience and we were very impressed with his clear strategies and ideas. Plus he is still a quality BBL player, so that gives extra flexibility as well". For his part, Paternostro is thrilled at the prospect of moving into the coaching ranks, "To be a head coach is something I've aspired to do, so to be given the opportunity by a club such as Leicester, who I've had the fortune of playing for and I'm familiar with, is a wonderful thing. "There is a lot of work to be done between now and the start of the season, but I will certainly be excited to step up and take this challenge. To do it in place like Leicester where I know from experience the support the fans give their team is definitely going to be exciting." Ellis confirmed that Paternostro will be starting immediately in building for next season. "We will be meeting with Rob this week to look at player options and understand his thoughts in terms of last season's squad. Rob will be off to the US in a couple of weeks and we hope to make rapid progress in nailing down our playing options for the new season". ......................................................................................... KEVIN MITCHELL
OF THE OBSERVER READ THE FULL OBSERVER STORY HERE ......................................................................................... DORSEY DEPARTS GUILDFORD AND LANDS AT EVERTON
BBL Legend Tony Dorsey has signed for Everton Tigers for the 2008/09 season after departing Guildford Heat. Dorsey, who helped the Heat to the Trophy and Championship double last season, will hook up with Head Coach Tony Garbelotto and Great Britain Guard Richard Midgley in a team that is already looking like serious contenders for silverware next season. Tony Dorsey, who hails from Atlanta Georgia, is one of the BBL's best ever players although at 37, he is now coming to the end of an illustrious career. At the end of the recent BBL Championship game at the NIA, Birmingham, Dorsey held up one hand displaying five fingers to signify his 5 Championship wins in the BBL. Add that to his other trophies and his MVP performances plus his selection for Great Britain and England and you will see why the name Tony Dorsey is writ large in the annals of British Basketball. Over his career, Dorsey is averaging over 20 points and 8 rebounds a game and is shooting 56% from the field. TONY DORSEY FACT FILE ...................................................................................
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