The first ever Humphrey Long Invitational Tournament drew to a close today after a productive two days of competition and development at the National Basketball Performance Centre in Manchester.
The Under 14 event was well supported by a number of travelling supporters and parents, cheering on the England, Scotland and Aspire Select sides. Equally, the teams themselves were more than prepared to make some noise for their fellow players, creating a great atmosphere throughout.
T E A M E N G L A N D. 🏴
— Basketball England (@bballengland) August 8, 2019
We have our winners! England Red take the Boys' competition, closely followed by England White and the Aspire Select team!
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Results/Standings ➡ https://t.co/hoYB5kjCYm
Gallery 📷 https://t.co/fjbpvgxChy#TogetherWeAreBasketbALL pic.twitter.com/xYyoKJiRw4
"What a fantastic finish today at the Humph Long Invitational Tournament. The memory of one of our all-time great youth coaches was definitely honoured over the 2 days," said Basketball England’s Technical and Talent Performance Manager Steve Bucknall, who played under Long as part of the England Under 15s.
"Humph was an entertainer, and a teacher. As a coach he would have really appreciated the standard and competitive nature of the tournament's games.
"Having the best young players from Scotland and England on the same court has continued to strengthen our basketball relationship and offered our players a huge opportunity to grow together as well."
T E A M E N G L A N D. 🏴
— Basketball England (@bballengland) August 8, 2019
Double delight! England Red take the Girls' competition as well, with the Aspire Select team in 2nd and England White taking 3rd!
Results/Standings ➡ https://t.co/hoYB5kjCYm
Gallery 📷 https://t.co/fjbpvgxChy#TogetherWeAreBasketbALL pic.twitter.com/uS9ZJumJRd
With the tournament’s final standings decided by the placings across a five team group, both England Red teams came out on top once the schedule had been completed. They went a perfect 4-0 in both competitions to take the title of Humphrey Long Invitational Tournament winners for 2019.
The Aspire Select teams, made up of players from across Basketball England’s Aspire programme, came in second place for the girls and third for the boys. That left England White to round things out as they finished 2nd in the boys and 3rd in the girls.
The final standings were as follows:
Boys
1) England Red
2) England White
3) Aspire Select
4) Scotland Yellow
5) Scotland Royal
Girls
1) England Red
2) Aspire Select
3) England White
4) Scotland Royal
5) Scotland Yellow
Scotland’s participation at the tournament allowed for a large number of their performance players to take significant steps in their own development whilst highlighting the ever strengthening relationship between the home nations.
“We’re delighted to come down to England. It’s a great showcase and for us to see the talent that is here as a part of GB,” said Barry Lang, Head of Performance for basketballscotland. “We’ve brought a lot of our younger kids down here to experience that for the first time. The intensity of play, the big arena, it’s been a fantastic experience for them.
“We wanted to work on our player’s talent behaviours and see what character they had. The exposure to this intensity of play was really important for us. That’ll provide the building blocks and foundation for them moving forward.”
A full list of results as well as the final standings can be accessed by clicking the button below.
A selection of photographs from the tournament are available in two galleries linked below as well.
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