Hello and welcome
25/09 NORTHANTS BASKETBALL CLUB
NORTHANTS BASKETBALL CLUBwww.nsbba.co.uk
* Under 14 Boys lose all three games in Birmingham Tournament *
The Northants “Thunder Too” Under 14 Boys had a baptism of fire in the Birmingham Tournament last weekend. They played three of the better teams in the country and lost all three games.
Against City of Birmingham the “Thunder” went down 38-11 and will rue a number of missed scoring opportunities. Birmingham were a very athletic team who played an aggressive press defence and this forced a number of errors from the county boys. By the time they adjusted to the pace of the game it was too late.
Manchester “Magic” presented an entirely different problem with the presence of a 2 meters (6 feet 8 inch) centre. This meant that every time Manchester shot and missed their ‘giant’ would pick up the rebound and convert. The “Thunder” stuck gamely to their task but in the end went down 60-29.
Leicester “Blaze” are always a difficult team to compete with allying athleticism to a pressing zone defence. The “Thunder” were guilty of turning the ball over on a number of occasions giving Leicester easy scoring opportunities. Again, the necessary adjustment came too late to prevent a 47-25 loss.
Reflecting on the three defeats, Coach Sid Nicholls commented, “This was very valuable exercise and showed the boys just how difficult this season is going to be. We have a number of good players but they have to realise that they can’t beat teams by themselves so over the next few weeks we will have to work hard to make the players realise the importance of playing together as a team not a group of individuals.”
* Immi, Whitney, Matt and Ollie make the Midlands teams *
Four players from the Northants club have been selected for the Midlands team to play in the Area Performance Centre Tournaments next weekend. The four are Imogen Cox and Whitney Bain in the girls team and Matthew Usher and Ollie Brown in the boy’s. have
The APC’s were set up three years ago to give talented players an opportunity to develop their skills alongside other talented players and the tournament is a major stepping-stone in selection for the England Under 15 Development squads. The girl’s tournament will be played in Nottingham and the boy’s in Walsall.
THIS WEEKEND’S ACTION
This weekend two county teams start their National League campaign while another is in friendly action.
Sat 30th Sept. Under 16 Boys travel to Trafford for a Premier Division North game
Under 14 Boys travel to Ilkeston for a friendly game.
Sun 1st Oct. NORTHANTS MOULTON ‘B’ versus Milton Keynes “Wildcats” Northants League
NORTHANTS MOULTON JUNIOR MEN versus Stockport National League
Both these games will be played at Moulton College tipping off at 1.15pm and 3.15pm.
Spectators are welcome and admission is FREE
19/09 NORTHANTS BASKETBALL CLUB
NORTHANTS BASKETBALL CLUBwww.nsbba.co.uk
* It’s tough for the Junior Men in Manchester *
The Northants “Thunder” Junior (Under 18) Men were in Manchester last weekend for a two day tournament. Their first game was against Greater Manchester and after a closely fought contest were leading by one point going in to the last minute of play. On three occasions the “Thunder” went to the free throw line and on three occasions they missed. Manchester seized their opportunity and was able to get their noses in front and win 50-48.
Next up for the county boys were City of Birmingham who were duly seen off 63-48 without too much trouble. During that game influential guard Alexander Stewart picked up an injury and was unable to play any further part in the tournament. His presence was sorely missed against Manchester but going into the second half the Northants boys only trailed 36-30. The second half was a completely different affair with Manchester storming home 83-58.
On day two of the tournament a leg-weary team took the court against Reading “Rockets” and were well beaten 89-53 and in the Play Off for 3rd and 4th place against Manchester they were never in the hunt finally losing 78-36.
Coach, Tony Stewart was philosophical about the weekend, “We were without two key players (Tom Care and Matt Rawsthorne) for the weekend but we learnt a great deal about ourselves and the exercise was far more valuable than just practicing. The boys now know what they’ve got to do to be competitive this year.”
Stewart was fulsome in his praise of Jourdan Blessyn, Simon New and Mark Swann; while Robert Pearson showed that he has the ability to become a major scoring threat.
* It’s tough for the Cadettes as well *
The Northants “Lightning” Cadette (Under 16) Women also travelled to Manchester last weekend for a one day tournament and returned battered and bruised with just one win to for their efforts.
The “Lightning” opened up with a 42-20 win over the Manchester “Mystics” ‘B’ team thanks for 16 points from Kyrie Burgoine. Against the “Mystics” ‘A’ team the Northants girls found scoring very difficult but the team’s defensive effort led by Amy O’Connor and Charley Cropp kept the score line reasonable but couldn’t prevent a 35-15 loss.
The team were rather surprised to find that their next opponents were the Bury senior women’s team. Initially they were a little daunted by their opponent’s physical advantage and going into the last period of play trailed by 18 points. The team rallied strongly and an 18-6 run reduced the deficit to six points before Bury closed the game out at 39-30.
Sevenoaks “Suns” had travelled to the tournament with only five players and with one of them injured had to recruit a player form the Manchester club. The “Lightning’s” up-tempo basketball caused the southerners all sorts of problems and resulted in a number of fouls being called against them. Unfortunately, the Northants girls just couldn’t convert the resulting free throws and Sevenoaks were able to take the game 36-27.
This team will play in the National Cup and Coach Pete Burgoine was pleased that his team had the opportunity to play together in the tournament. Over the four games Kyrie Burgoine totalled 37 points, Sascha Thompson contributed 18 and Roxie Francis contributed 16 while Amy O’Connor put in four very sound performances.
* Under 13’s in action in Sheffield *
Some of the youngest players in the county programme were in action in Sheffield yesterday and enjoyed mixed fortunes.
Darfield 18 – 58 Northants “Thunder Under 13 boys
Rotherham “Hawks” 24 – 49 Northants “Thunder
The Northants “Thunder under 13 boys picked up two wins thanks to a display of aggressive full court man-to-man defence which caused both Darfield from Barnsley and Rotherham massive problems. Coach, John Collins was delighted with the performance of all his players who have been practicing hard all summer.
Sheffield “Hatters” 77 – 41 Northants “Lightning” under 13 girls
The inexperienced county girls found the going tough against an athletic and physical Sheffield side. Several of the Northants girls found it difficult to cope with the pace of the game although newcomer Lana Doran showed up well and Faye Clarke chipped in with 15 points.
THIS WEEKEND’S ACTION
This weekend just one county team is in action with the Northants “Thunder Under 14 Boys travelling to Birmingham to play City of Birmingham, Leicester “Blaze” and Manchester “Magic in a four team tournament.
19/09 ViVA INVITES NORTHAMPTONSHIRE AUDIENCE TO LISTEN UP! FESTIVAL
ViVA INVITES NORTHAMPTONSHIRE AUDIENCE TO LISTEN UP! FESTIVALsinfonia ViVA will performing a special concert at The Castle in Wellingborough on Sunday October 1 as part of the BBC Radio 3’s prestigious Listen Up! Festival of Orchestras.
The Orchestra will play under the baton of award-winning Michael Young, ViVA’s first Associate Conductor, and will be joined by oboe soloist Marious Argiros for a tour de force of classics including Rossini’s Overture to Italian Girl in Algiers, Mozart’s Oboe Concerto and Beethoven’s Symphony No 7.
This piece will be a fitting finale to the concert as the work received much favourable comment from other composers including Wagner who proclaimed it ‘the apothesis of the dance. If anyone plays the Seventh, tables and benches, cans and cups, the grandmother, the blind and the lame, aye the children in the cradle fall to dancing’.
Tickets are available from the Box Office 01933 270007 or email boxoffice@thecastle.org.uk