Northern Ireland Team Conquer UK Junior Title
Last weekend saw two teams made up of members of the Knights Wheelchair
Basketball club represent Northern Ireland at the Great Britain Regional
Championships, which were held in Stoke Mandeville, birthplace of the Paralympic
Games.
The teams travelled to Stoke Mandeville on Friday night with high hopes of
challenging for the title of Great Britain Champions in both the U15 and U19
sections.
Saturday saw both teams have an early start, and with four games each to play
that day it was going to be a long day. Both teams got off to a winning start
with Jenni Lusty from Bangor playing an important role in both victories.
Amazingly the young lady played in all twelve games for both teams in the two
days.
As the rest of the games played out however the fortunes of both teams were
distinctly different. The U19s who beat London easily in their first game, with
Jamie Odgers from Richill and Johnny McCarthy from Lisburn leading the team, had
a bad turn of fortune losing the next three, whereas the U15s won three of their
games, giving themselves a great chance of the title.
The kids went to bed early on the Saturday absolutely shattered with high hopes
for the Sunday and the U15s knowing that victory in their last two games would
secure them the GB title for the first time.
The omens looked good when Northern Ireland were lead to victory over Yorkshire,
their main rivals, by captain Geordie Wallace, who recently was mascot for the
Northern Ireland football team for their recent World Cup game against
Azerbaijan.
Could these kids emulate the recent success of that team and become GB
champions. You bet they could. With only Wales to play in their final game
expectations were high. The U15s turned in an excellent display of basketball
skills to win the game easily, with one young player James MacSorley from
Belfast capturing the imagination with some lightening quick fast breaks down
court from great accurate passing from Charles Rankin, also Belfast, who
dominated on the defensive end.
When the game was over the emotions overwhelmed the players as they realised
they had beaten the best in Britain and taken the GB title, with Zara Lusty and
her Dad Mark , Bangor, shedding a few tears of joy, and there were tears again
all round from players, parents and even the coaches as the kids went up to
collect their trophies.
Knight’s head coach Jason Kennedy and coach of the U19s admitted this was one of
the proudest moments of his coaching career. He said “ This is such an important
achievement for these kids, only four years ago we took them to a tournament in
Liverpool and we were just happy if they managed to get the ball up the court
and take a shot once in a game, now they are British Regional Champions, its
just fantastic”. He also added,” Special thanks must go to all the coaches who
have worked with these players, and their parents who bring them to training
every week without fail from all over Northern Ireland, but also not to forget
Steven McAlesse who coached the U15s to victory, in his first ever tournament “
The U19s ended with a record of one win five losses after putting up a brave
performance and despite playing some good basketball, the more experienced teams
of Scotland and Yorkshire were just too good on the Sunday. Although
disappointed at their own lack of success they revelled in the U15s.
Coach Jason Kennedy said,” This is a great win for our club and the future of
wheelchair basketball in Northern Ireland is looking good at the moment. In fact
not only do we have a senior team who compete at the highest level in Britain,
of which two members played for the GB team in the World Junior Championships
and another four represented Ireland this year, we also have a women’s and
junior team playing in British leagues too this year.”.
Indeed the future does look bright for those young stars and hopefully they can
go on to greatness.
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