newcastle eagles
basketball
although we're taking nothing for granted we're
favourites for the league so all is good. Success
breeds confidence and you get a real feel-good
factor which makes it easier to do the tough things.
It keeps everyone together which is important.
Fab is very grounded and makes the guys work
extra hard to maintain his tough standards.
Nothing comes easy but hard work also reaps
rewards. It can be tough at times but so far so good
this campaign. Off the court we want to continue
to do what we do and maintain our standards and
expectations. We have goals to meet commercially
and in the community and we’re on track to do
that. If we get to the end of the season and we’ve
achieved what we need to then that’s a success and
a building block for future seasons.”
Targets
“On the court we’re greedy, or at least Fab and the
Guys are! We have a great team that are exactly that,
a team. They all have their roles and expectations
and know what they have to do. We’re hopeful that
we can get to The Trophy Final and that’ll give us
another crack at a piece of silverware. The League
is ours to lose but with our mentality we also know
it’s not a formality.
Personally though I want to play in the Play-Off
Final which is the last game of the season. This year
it’s going to be played at The O2 Arena in London
in front of 20,000 fans which is huge for British
Basketball. The BBL has done a great job in securing
the game at the O2 and promoting it. It would be
fantastic if we could be a part of that and play in
that game.”
Youth
“Youth development is absolutely essential! It’s
always hard as a supposed minority sport to
attract players but I think we do a great job and we
have a great community team working in Eagles
Community Foundation that get out there and
spread the word. The senior players are also heavily
involved in our very successful Hoops for Health
programme that we run in schools throughout
Tyneside and Northumberland.
We have nearly 30 club sites and up to 50 teams
play in 4 Junior Leagues at Under 12, 14, 16 and
18 in the Eagles Central Venue League (CVL)
every Saturday. Young players progress into our
School of Excellence (SoE) programme from the
club sites. These teams play across the country in
the BE National Leagues. Most players as I’ve said
graduate from CVL to SoE where we run sides at
Under 15 and Under 16 Boys and Men’s Under 18’s
as well as Women’s Under 18’s.
We’ve had success with the SoE with the likes of
Ross Wilson (now at College in USA with Division
1 Rice University), Jack Wilson currently playing
for Team Northumbria’s first team and Eddie all
graduating and playing for the senior Eagles side.
Nurturing your own talent and seeing it come
through is very rewarding and something we hope
to build on. We can only hope that it continues in
the future to develop.”
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