newcastle eagles
basketball
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Newcastle Eagles
BASKETBALL
N
ewcastle Eagles are the most successful team in the British Basketball Leagues history having won numerous
trophies since the league was first established. Managing Director Paul Blake took the time to tell us more about
the fantastic set up that they have in place.
Success
He told us, “Continuity is a big part of what we do
on the court. Fab, Charles and Darius have been with
us for years and know the system inside out. Scott
Martin, Drew Lasker and Stu Thomson are in their
second years and we brought Andy Thomson back
from France who was with us when we won all four
National trophies in 2010/11 so all know the Club
and its expectations.
Eddie Matthew has come through our junior ranks
and is an outstanding talent that we are nurturing
and has been around the senior team since he was
16. All this means that when Dave Forrester and
Fab went through recruiting they were only really
looking for two guys who they thought would fit the
mould and so far Rahmon Fletcher and Andre Jones
have done exactly that.”
Community
“Off the court it's about building good relationships
with sponsors and supporters and making sure we
can make the match night experience as enjoyable as
possible. It’s very much a family night out and we
believe we are unique in this sense for a sporting
product.
Our community programme is key to our success. We
have built up a solid following in the schools and the
community, set up junior clubs and leagues for those
clubs to play in. We also developed an academy for
those players in local competition that want to make
the next move up.
This all progresses into partnerships with Tyne Met
College, Gateshead College, Newcastle College and
ultimately Northumbria University. Our foundation
runs the university basketball programme and the
Eagles play and train at Sport Central. This is the top
of our pyramid system.
Finally, it's about being realistic and not over
stretching. We set budgets and stick to them. We
work hard to make sure we can afford to put a good
side out and sustain our community programme. If
you know and set your parameters then everyone
buys in and that's great to see.”
This Season
“The mood here is excellent, it could hardly be better.
We've won The Cup, we're in the semi-finals of The
Trophy and we've lost only two league games so far.
We've just beaten Leicester for the second time and
20 Issue 05
Images courtesy of Rob Chambers/Memories Sporting and Event Photography