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British Basketball announce the coaching and management staff for the GB national youth squads for the FIBA European Championships 2017

British Basketball is pleased to announce the confirmation of all coaching and team management roles for the GB National Youth Squads, ahead of the various FIBA European Championships 2017.

With 2017 being the first year that Under 16 and Under 18 teams will be competing as Great Britain, rather than the Home Countries, there is great excitement within the basketball community for opportunities facing the squads.

British Basketball Chief Executive, Lisa Wainwright, commented “We are delighted to name such strong coaching and management teams to all of the GB National Youth Squads. Using the experience and talent within the Home Countries, we’ve been able to appoint high quality coaches and excellent team support personnel to all squads. Flying the flag for GB for the first time for the younger age groups adds a new dimension for the coaches, management and players. Thanks to all the Home Countries for their assistance in appointing the staff and Basketball England for managing the Under 16 and Under 18 squads. Another example of collaborative working being driven by our Transforming Basketball in Britain strategy.”

A full list of all staff is listed below:

GB Under 20 Men

Name                        Position

Andreas Kapoulas      Head Coach

Lloyd Gardner            Assistant Coach

Josh Merrington         Assistant Coach

Mark Lloyd                Team Manager

Mark Dayson             Physio

Ross Knevett            Sports Therapist

GB Under 20 Women

Name                         Position

Jose Buceta                Head Coach

Chris Bunten                Assistant Coach

Rachael Vanderwal       Assistant Coach

Beverley Kettlety         Team Manager

Darren Finnegan           Physio

GB Under 18 Men

Name                         Position

Alan Keane                 Head Coach

Ian Macleod                Assistant Coach

Pete Daines                Team Manager

Peter Berenyi              Performance Analyst

Patrick Waplington      S&C Coach

Ellen Scott                  Sports Therapist

GB Under 18 Women

Name                         Position

Vanessa Ellis              Head Coach

James Dawe               Assistant Coach

Sadie Mason               Team Manager

Barney Blake               Performance Analyst

Sam Heathcote            S&C Coach

James McCormack      Physio

GB Under 16 Men

Name                         Position

James Vear                 Head Coach

Craig Nicol                  Assistant Coach

Howard Leighton          Team Manager

Ieuan Alex Jones         Performance Analyst

Hani Assi                    S&C Coach

Mark Dayson               Physio

GB Under 16 Women

Name                        Position

Matthew Harber          Head Coach

Kenrick Liburd            Assistant Coach

Olga Cornish              Team Manager

Adam Davies             Performance Analyst

Antonis Kesisoglou     S&C Coach

Brad Scanes              Physio

Wales National Team Head Coach James Bamfield has named his squad for the Celtic Cup which will be held in Scotland at the National Performance Centre on 9 -11 June 2017. Scotland play Ireland on Friday, before Wales face Ireland on Saturday and Scotland on the Sunday. It is expected both sides will field strong line ups with Scotland still hoping to make a case for a place at 2018 Commonwealth games and set to feature GB players Gareth Murray and Kieran Achara.

The Welsh squad has clearly been selected with a view to the future and features 8 players who earlier this year represented Wales at U23.

Coach Bamfield said, “We have made tremendous progress since September adding significantly to the talent levels and identifying some excellent veterans to help lead the program forward. We now have 25 players attending the next camp on the 3June, before we work with the squad for Scotland. We will continue to work tirelessly to identify young talent and involve them in either the Senior or U23 program. In terms of the Celtic Cup clash in June everyone involved is very excited to dip our toes into true International competition”.

The squad has an average age of 23 and for most of the squad this will be their first senior international so it’s very exciting to see these players taking this first step and help them to discover what sort of international players they might be.

Coach Bamfield was pleased by the success many of these players had at U23 level forcing over 30 turnovers and landing 40 fast break points in their win over Scotland. Obviously, the performance levels and results will be different at senior level.  

He added “We need to be realistic about expectations and give this group a chance to grow as they can have a very bright future”.

We have also been very lucky to have some superb veteran talent commit to the program and it gives me great pleasure to name James Dawe, Asa Waite and Jamie Rodwell as team co-captains as we move forward.

James Dawe one of the three named co-captains said: “Coming off the back of a tough FIBA campaign last summer it's been great to start training with Wales again. I have been lucky enough to go to the past two FIBA Small Countries tournaments and have really enjoyed the challenge of playing at that level. The competition style and the build-up are always an opportunity to learn and improve. Although we are no longer entering that competition the prospect of playing for Wales is still a big draw for the guys. Several of us play for Cardiff Archers and we have enjoyed a competitive season in the National League D3 this year narrowing missing out on playoffs. Hopefully we can take some of that momentum into the summer with Wales. 

Coach Bamfield really has the guys buying into the way he wants Wales to play and the vision for the future, you can tell by the atmosphere at the camps.

We have a lot of young players who are hungry to improve and prove they deserve a spot in the senior team. This makes training competitive and, coupled with the fast style of basketball the coaches are implementing, it's fun to be involved. There's a positive atmosphere and an understanding of where we are at now and where we want to be. Hopefully as we continue to train hard as a group, and away from camps individually, we will start to see things come together on court.  

The Celtic Cup will be our first real opportunity to play together. Both Scotland and Ireland have great set ups and talented players so they will be a very tough test for us. The guys are looking forward to the chance to play against that kind of competition”.

Sqaud to represent Wales in the Celtic Cup
9 - 11 June 2017
Scotland

The following players have been invited to join the training camp

Coaching Team

On Saturday 13 May Basketball Wales, Cardiff Met Archers, Tribal Basketball, and Sport Cardiff will be giving 8 to 11-year-olds from Cardiff the opportunity to gain themselves the Basketball Wales Mini Basketball Bronze Award!

The event will be held in the brand-new Archers' Arena on Cardiff Metropolitan University's Cyncoed Campus, the home of Wales' only elite-level basketball squad, the Cardiff Met Archers WBBL (Women's British Basketball League) team! 

The event is completely free and is a great introduction to basketball.

The children who take part will experience top-level teaching from Basketball Wales, Tribal Basketball and Archers Basketball coaches, and will quickly be confident enough to play their parts in fast-paced end-to-end games of one of Britain's fastest-growing sports!

Not only will participants earn their Bronze Awards and learn loads of new skills; they will also get to see the FIBA EuroBasket Trophy as it stops at Cardiff Met on its grand tour before this year's EuroBasket Tournament!

EuroBasket Finals (the European Basketball Tournament) is Europe's top international competition. Taking place every two years, it sees 24 European nations battling it out on the courts to find Europe's basketball champions! And this year we can follow the GB men’s team, they have qualified for the finals and will play Belgium, Turkey, Latvia, Serbia and Russia. The tournament starts on 31 August and ends in Istanbul on 17 September 2017.

The event is open to all primary school children in years 4, 5 and 6 and will run from 12 - 3pm. The Archers' Arena is on Cardiff Metropolitan University's Cyncoed Campus, Cyncoed Road, CF23 6XD.

For more information and book a place please email  bwminibasketball@tribalbasketball.net

 Wales U18 Men National Team ahead of friendly game in March 2017

(photo credit: Karen Solomons)

Wales Under 18’s Men National Team will be the first team in action on the international basketball stage in April ahead of a busy summer for various Welsh youth teams (Under 16’s and Under 18’s men and women). The town of Alytus in Lithuania was chosen as the base for a 5-days-long training camp which includes training sessions and friendly games against local youth teams. The trip is part of the preparation programme for the team that already played two friendly games against Worcester Wolves Under 18 and Cardiff University Select team.

“I am pleased to see how players responded to my requests and how the team is shaping during the training sessions which we had every month since September and during the two friendly games we organised so far”, said Alex Radu who is the Head Coach of the team. He added: “I hope players will bring the same intensity and desire to improve and get better that I have noticed so far into the next three friendly games which we will play during the Easter break in Lithuania. It is going to be a good challenge and I think it is useful to compare ourselves with representatives of a world class basketball country – Lithuania is currently1st in Europe and 2^nd in the FIBA World rankings for Youth Men basketball nations! So I am sure there are plenty of things to learn from this coming trip”.

Wales Under 18 will play the first game against Varenos Bites on Tuesday 18^th April 2017 at 6.00 pm local time and this will followed by the game against Alytus Dzukija BC on Wednesday 19^th April at 5.00 pm. The third game will be scheduled on the last day of the trip (Thursday 20^th April 2017) against Adolfo Ramanausko High School.