Junior Sharks England Reports

Several Junior Sharks had an interrupted festive season as they were on duty for the England National teams. U18s Will Hall played in Manchester at the Harris Memorial Tournament Dec 27-29, and John Stewart and Devon van Oostrum played in the Power Wevelgem tournament in Belgium Dec 27-28.

In Manchester, Will’s England team comfortably made it through the group stages and defeated Manchester U18s in the semi to set up a rematch with the only team that had defeated them, the Gran Canaria Basketball Academy. After a blistering start by the islanders (23-5!), Will was instrumental in slowly pulling England back. He delivered the assist of the day with a beautiful tap to star Ryan Richards who delivered the highlight monster jam. In the narrow loss, Will finished with a double-double and plenty of other good stats (10 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists).

England U16 White (John 12, Devon 7)

Across the channel, John and Devon traveled to Dover on Boxing Day for two tournaments in Wevelgem, an U18s club team one on Saturday and U16s one on Sunday. England had entered two teams for both tournaments, coached by Simon Fisher and Karl Brown. John and Devon (as captain) both played for England White. On the first day, they lost the first game, which meant they were put into the loser’s bracket; they did win all the other games that day. On Sunday, England White stormed through the tournament, beating Warengem in the final by 20 points. John asserted himself throughout the tournament, picking up a black eye in the process. Devon managed to pick up MVP awards for both the U18 and the U16 tournament. They finally arrived home around 2.30am on Sunday.

Devon receives his second MVP trophy