RECAP - 2019 U15 Aspire Tournament (Saturday)

The second ever 2019 Aspire Tournament saw the U15 teams from across the country come together for an outstanding display of basketball, as the stars of tomorrow seized the opportunity to continue their development and improve on the courts of Manchester's National Basketball Performance Centre.

The Aspire Tournament provides an opportunity for regional players and coaches to come together and demonstrate what has been learned during the last 10 months of coaching across the country. The tournaments also provide a competitive environment to test that learning as observers and national team staff cast an eye over proceedings.

"It's been another fantastic, competitive, enthusiastic and tremendous day watching these young aspiring boys and girls fight for their regions," said Basketball England's Performance and Technical Manager, Steve Bucknall. "We are really looking forward to the second day and seeing the conclusion of this great tournament.”

For the Boys, the day’s spoils largely belonged to the South who made sure their journey to Manchester was worthwhile as they went undefeated to top Pool B with a 4-0 record. East Midlands also had a good showing as they finished with a 3-1 record close behind in second position. Pool A was a tale of upsets, as to everyone's surprise, London finished in fourth position with just one win. The East team were the ones who stormed the competition this year going undefeated with a 4-0 record to top the group with the North West Boys closely behind in second place (3-1). 

For the Girls, London took the pick of the bunch as they went 4-0 in Pool X to claim first place, with their southern rivals the South team trailing just behind in second. In Pool Y, three teams tied in first place as the East, South East and North West all received a 3-1 record overall. 

With the pool stage now completed, Sunday’s schedule is set and can be viewed from the button below.

With the players learning on court, the day’s play also provided an opportunity for both coaches and officials to continue their development as well. With a number of observers on hand, including Basketball England’s Regional Talent Managers, regional coaches that were new to the talent pathway were observed and provided with feedback on their communication and game management.

Over on court 5, each team was put through their paces in the Shooting Challenge, utilising two Dr Dish shooting machines to test each player's shooting prowess in a timed drill. The following players have advanced to tomorrow's final shootout:

Girls - Grace Spooner (East), Jasmine Graham (Yorkshire), Lottie Evans (South West), Sakaya Perkins (London)
Boys - Ben Aldridge (South), Kobe Hill (South West), Bradley May (North West), Toby Randles (West Midlands), Dan Hadley (East Midlands0

Tomorrow’s play gets underway at 9:00am and there is no cost to come down and take in some of the action. We’ll once again have coverage on our Twitter and Instagram platforms with updates, images and more throughout the day. To see the coverage of today's action, follow the links below: