Despite the fuel shortages, the Birmingham Camp was able to go ahead across 2nd and 3rd October with new coaches for each age group confirmed.
Saturday was run by new o40 Coach Neil McElduff (Mac) who has moved across from the o45 Ladies. He put the mix of o40 and o45 players through some vigorous drills, working on ball movement, shooting and high intensity basketball.
o40 Captain, Adam Slater commented, “Great first session back since the GB Masters tournament in Worcester. Just want to take the opportunity to welcome Coach Mac to the over 40’s team, he really put us through our paces – we were definitely feeling it after the session. Looking forward to having the full squad back in November where we can focus on progressing the team from where it is now.”
Coach Mac added, “Great to meet the guys and get some early ideas down on how I want us to play. Really pleased with the effort and commitment shown and looking forward to working together to be the best we can be.”
Sunday, saw the players back on court early in the morning to loosen up with Physio Amanda, before a shooting session with new o45 Coach, Franky Marulanda and a friendly against some local Birmingham players.
o45 Captain, Drew Barrett reflected on the two days, “It was a physically tough, grueling but very rewarding weekend. There are a few key points I take from the sessions, firstly the strong sense of togetherness and team comradeship grows stronger with both the o40 and o45, a really unselfish and very driven collection of individuals all travelling in a positive direction to achieve a common goal. It was great to welcome two new great guys to the family in Coaches Mac and Franky, and of course huge thanks to Amanda for the dynamic muscle activation warmup and warm down routines. Very excited and look forward to seeing everyone in November, I now need to go and take as many Ibuprofen as is medically possible!!”
Coach Franky re-iterated Drew’s comments, “It was a great pleasure to spend Sunday morning with the guys in Birmingham. I was not sure what to expect, but I have come away extremely pleased with this group of hard working, dynamic, intelligent, driven and supportive ballers. I’m so excited about Malaga and meeting the rest of the squad once this petrol shortage in done.”
Further images and highlight video can be found on the team’s Gallery page by clicking here
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