Showing posts with label community. Show all posts
Showing posts with label community. Show all posts
Friday, 28 May 2010
News
LONDON 2012 BASKETBALL STADIUM GOING TO BRAZIL!
Former Olympic Minister Tessa Jowell confirmed today that talks have already been held with officials from Brazil about the 12,000 seat arena being used as part of their 2016 Games.
She told BBC London: "I had a meeting with the mayor of Sao Paolo who expressed interest in buying our temporary basketball arena after the Games are over.
"Those commercial negotiations are now underway between the city of Sao Paolo and the contractors, so the London 2012 basketball arena may well - when the Games are over - have a second life in Sao Paolo."
"It's a very good expression of the determination by host cities to keep costs down, and to move beyond the requirement that everything has to be iconic, permanent and possibly, in the long term, unused."
She said it would save London "several million" pounds.
RYAN RICHARDS GETS RATINGS!!
Ryan Richards is the name on everyone's lips after smashing it on day one of the NBA Combine trials in Chicago.
The well-respected Bleacher Report writes:
Richards came to Chicago without much fanfare as he wasn't considered one of the better international prospects like Dontas Motiejunas of Lithuania.
From what was shown, the 6'10 235 pound lefty looked impressive in the drills and was able to keep pace with many of the top collegiate talents that were competing. He looked smooth and showed off good athleticism for his size.
If he keeps showing solid skills in future individual workouts like he was able to do today, it would seem very likely for a team to take a flyer on him in the second round of this year's draft.
It only takes one team to fall in love with a player, especially is the case with foreign guys so it's definitely possible for Richards to become a bit of a workout warrior type of player and sneak his way into the end of the first round depending on how the next month goes.
Ryan Richards is the finest young basketball player that Kent has produced in recent years and is Kent’s best chance for representation in both the elite NBA and the GB Basketball team at the 2012 Olympics.
Ryan, who first played elite basketball with the Kent Crusaders, now plays his basketball full time with Spain’s Gran Canaria where he has quickly become a key member of their under 16 and 18 squads. Last season, while still only 14, Ryan regularly featured for the Crusaders men’s teams quickly earning his teammates and opponents respect.
Basketball is a much bigger sport in Spain than it is in Britain, with both Real Madrid and Barcelona fielding professional basketball sides. Richards has shown a huge improvement already after accepting the scholarship to Gran Canria’s academy. Recently he top scored with 33 points heling the Gran Canria regional team to a national championship.
Ryan, now 15 and originally from Sittingbourne, came back to Britain recently and we took the opportunity to talk to him first time about life in Spain:
How does playing in Spain compare to playing in England?
I’ve been in Spain for about six months now and it’s been great. Things are a lot different over here and it’s a whole different culture. We train here everyday and at first I struggled a bit with it. There’s a lot of lifting weights and I’ve improved a lot physically and my game has come on a lot. Living on my own in a different country has been good for me and I feel I’ve improved both as a player and as a person.
What’s it been like getting used to life in Spain – have you learned the language?
I’m still learning the language but Canaria has loads of guys from all over the world, from places like the Czech Republic and Somalia and most of them speak pretty good English so it’s been alright so far.
And the food?
The food’s alright, most of the time we’re on a special diet to help us put on weight but on Sundays we get to eat traditional food like Paella.
What do you hope to do next?
Well I want to go North and get a contract with one of the big clubs like Barcelona or Real Madrid, they have the same badge and everything as the football clubs. Then I want to go to America to one of the colleges and finally to the NBA!
Good luck with that!
Thanks
What’s it like being back in the UK?
Cold! It feels very cold over here. I’ve been training with the guys (Kent Crusaders) and it felt good to be back, although all the plays have changed and I didn’t really know what was going on.
What are the coaches like in Spain?
The training in Spain is really good, I’m stronger a lot faster and my fundamentals have improved a lot
Does your new coach shout as much as Jesse? (Jesse Sazant, Kent’s head coach)
(Laughs) No, no one shouts as much as him!
Standard Life is proud to support British Basketball and Team GB on the journey to London 2012
Basketball originated in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA in December 1891 when Dr. James Naismith tossed a ball into a peach basket. Today in the UK it has risen to become the third largest participative team sport after football and cricket.
Standard Life is proud to support British Basketball and Team GB on the journey to London 2012. We will be with Team GB every second, every shot, every pass, every block of the way to help them achieve their potential.
The road to London 2012 begins at ‘Game On At The O2’. Visit the 'Game On' website for a full schedule of events and join us with your support for the teams.
Standard Life is proud to support British Basketball and Team GB on the journey to London 2012. We will be with Team GB every second, every shot, every pass, every block of the way to help them achieve their potential.
The road to London 2012 begins at ‘Game On At The O2’. Visit the 'Game On' website for a full schedule of events and join us with your support for the teams.
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Helping The Community
PIRM (Players Into Role Models) is a initiative which has been put together to help build positive youth role models within our local communities.
As part of the UK Elite basketball programme all elite players must complete community service as part of their programme. This entails players from the UKEB programme becoming role models for the next generation of children being involved in sport or physical activity. Most of the players will have come from the very same backgrounds as the children on our community programme and we feel that these players will be able to forward a very strong message to our next generation.
This early intervention and positive activity will make children think about the next stages and how they will go about the next challenge in life. With these children seeing players not much older than themselves and what they have been able to achieve through hard word and positive direction is a very powerful tool!
We will organise community half term basketball camps which our players will attend and work and conduct workshops. All participants will be able to access these camps for free and we will work with the local authority, school sports partnerships and Gifted and Talented programme to highlight which players will attend the camp. Our camps will hold workshops in: healthy eating, citizenship and positive action through on court activities. Not only does this benefit the children on our camps but the players themselves as we try to instil the sense of giving back is vitally important to their development as young male role models in which some cases has been missing from their own lives and makes them perfect examples to the next generation.
We feel that it is extremely important that our young players give something back to the community as we endorse an “Each One Teach One” mentality. This program not only benefits the local youths receiving these coaching lessons but also helps show our young up and coming athletes the impact they can and will have on others. By doing this we are also educating these athletes on how important it is to carry themselves in the right way, as they are constantly being looked at and admired.
To attract and benefit as many youths as possible our programs run throughout the holiday breaks such as half terms and are free of charge for all youths between the ages of 8-14.During our sessions all youths are taught fundamental basketball skills in a safe and fun environment. Our youths also talk to youths about their own persona experiences and what it takes to get to the next level. The youths are also presented with camp t-shirts sporting our “Shoot a Ball Not a Gun” slogan as well as receiving talks from the local police on the effects of gun, knife and gang related crimes and there effects on our local communities.
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