Basketball players from a Harrogate school have crowned their best-ever season by winning through to the final of a top competition.
Under the coaching of Voise Winters, a former player of the Philadelphia 76ers in America’s famed National Basketball Association (NBA), Ashville’s junior and senior teams have achieved a 78% winning strike rate in all competitions.
The end-of-season highlight was the appearance by the school’s Year 7 and Year 8 squad in the final of the Jr. NBA League, run by England Basketball in partnership with the NBA.
The competition allows young players to represent one of the 30 NBA teams – and Ashville doubled up as the Indiana Pacers for the season.
Coach Winters, who played against the legendary Michael Jordan in a professional career spanning 16 years and 18 clubs, said:
“The competition shares Ashville’s aim in promoting the excitement of the NBA and inspiring more children to get involved in basketball through a fun and positive experience with the sport.
“The league also aims to promote NBA values such as sportsmanship, teamwork, attitude, respect and healthy living through league games and other activities and events.
“To reach the final was a tremendous achievement for the team and while they narrowly missed out on bringing home the title, every player should feel proud of their performance.”
From being the first Jr. NBA league globally, 24 leagues now span all regions in England.
More than 720 schools and over 10,000 children are now involved - making it one of the largest Jr. NBA leagues in the world!
Coach Winters, who was born in Illinois and stands 6ft 8ins tall, added:
“Since joining Ashville and introducing basketball to the school curriculum just six years ago, we have seen a year-on-year increase in both its popularity and our success rate – this season winning 78% of all matches.
“Pupils are turning to basketball in ever-increasing numbers and are translating the skills learned through basketball to other sports, such as rugby and netball, and vice-versa – which is great to see.”
Other season highlights included a third place for Ashville’s senior team of Year 11, Year 12 and Year 13 players in the Yorkshire region of the AOC (Association of Colleges) League.
The squad also won through to the quarter finals of the national cup.
Coach Winters said:
“Ashville is the only school competing in this league which features teams from the county’s main towns and cities, such as Leeds, York, Sheffield, Doncaster and Barnsley – so it is a stand-out achievement.
“There is no shortage of home-grown basketball talent coming through the ranks either – our junior teams, featuring players from Year 8, Year 9 and 10, and Year 11, were all finalists or semi-finalists in their competitions too.”
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