The FIMBA GB o40 Men completed their final training camp at the weekend, culminating in another victory to remain undefeated heading to Malaga.
With the XI FIMBA European Championships now less than 6 weeks away, the weekend was Coach Mac’s last opportunity on court to put the final touches to his team.
Back in Loughborough for the weekend, the GB Wolfpack were also pleased to host Dyl Kyrpil and his family from District Enforcement, one of their partners, and show them what goes into the camps and discuss the plans for Malaga.
We felt honoured to be allowed behind the usually closed doors of a training session. We were made to feel very welcome by Sasha and Coach Mac. The players all took the time to talk to us and my children, it was a real privilege and inspired my son to start practicing again in the garden! We loved seeing how everyone interacted and how the team gelled. There is some absolutely quality in there and I am sure they will do very well in Malaga.
Dyl Kyrpil, District Enforcement
The session took on a slightly different look as, for the first time, the guards and bigs were split to work on some individual scenarios before coming together again for some team sprint drills. The second half of the session was spent running through the offensive and defensive sets and making sure everyone was locked into their roles, before a scrimmage at the end with situationals thrown in for good measure.
Day 2 was game day and in Loughborough again, so the players took the opportunity to arrive an hour early, spending the time before the session with Assistant Coach Anton Fraser walking through the plays.
Their opposition very kindly made the long trip from Whitstable in Kent to take on the Wolfpack and provided a stern test, using their mix of size and outside shooting to keep the game close through the first two quarter. Despite a few players resting niggles from Saturday’s session, the Wolfpack were able to get into their stride, try different combinations on court and run through everything they have worked on for the past year, eventually stretching out to an 89-60 win.
Top Scorers were Gayle 26; Knight 20; Estrada 20
A mixed team from FIMBA GB o40 and o45 will be heading to the Santander Masters in early June, but this was the last time the o40 would be together as a unit until the European Championships and they head there undefeated having beaten local and national league teams across the country over the past 12 months, as well as winning the GB Summer Madness and Kilkenny Masters tournaments.
So we had our final weekend. It’s been a real joy and privilege to be with these talented individuals every month and watch them grow into a team. I can see they all trust each other and will always make the extra pass. They work with and for each other. They are indeed a Wolfpack. I think we have done all we can to prepare and now it’s game time. But it will take a good team to beat us.
Coach Mac