The first England Talent Programmes (ETP) camp of 2019 concluded on Wednesday after three days of hard graft for some of the most talented Under 14 and Under 15 players in the country. The schedule for the day provided a sharp contrast of activities, with an intense morning of games followed by a much more easy going session in the afternoon.
The final day opened with a significant emphasis on game based drills, before play quickly moved into scrimmages for the remainder of the morning. The coaches in attendance were eager to watch the young hopefuls in as many game situations as possible, giving them every opportunity to show what they could do and what they’d picked up during the camp’s previous two days.
In the afternoon, the intensity levels were dialled back significantly as players were able to unwind with some fun basketball games and competitions. Slotted into the games were organised team and coach meetings to evaluate the camp as a whole and discuss the potential next steps in the ETP for each player.
T E A M E N G L A N D 🏴
— Basketball England (@bballengland) April 10, 2019
As camp winds down, we caught up with Ramareo Williams-Showers from London Pulse to tell us what he's enjoyed the most about the last three days in Manchester.#TogetherWeAreBasketbALL pic.twitter.com/6Dne5gBbbv
“I think it’s a new dawn for this programme, a new pathway, and I think along the way so far we’ve done things differently and we’ve set our stall out to concentrate on talent and players,” said Basketball England’s Performance Technical Manager Steve Bucknall. “The coaches have supported what we’re trying to do and we’re looking forward to the future where we’re hopefully some of these players will develop and become future GB internationals.”
“I thought the players really gave 110% and were really committed in all the sessions. The coaches were really excited about their performances and that translated into passion from those guys as well. Overall I really enjoyed watching the three days.”
With upcoming tournaments for the Under 15 Boys and Girls scheduled for later this month, today’s camp marked a clear evaluation point for the coaches involved as they look to finalise their initial squads. Whilst not every player can be selected at this stage, the majority of players from this week’s camp will remain firmly involved with the ETP programme as a whole going forward.
We’ll be announcing the Under 15 Girls squad for next week’s tournament in Nottingham as well as the Under 15 Boys squad for the Lions Cup in Paris at 11:00am tomorrow morning.
For a gallery of images from today’s action, please use the button below.
