Sharks help inspire record equalling performance for Yorkshire

A strong representation of Shark’s players helped the U14 Yorkshire team come 3rd and to equal the performance of the U14 team 2 years ago, again a team with a strong Sharks’ presence. This took place on the 25th and 26th October 2008 at Lilleshall.

It was thought that the Yorkshire team had drawn the short straw with most of the teams in their pool seeming very strong on paper. The first match was against reigning champions London and unfortunately Yorkshire let their reputation colour their performance or as Coach Dave Ransom said “I think they were still on the coach for the first match”. Nothing dropped for the team and they found themselves well adrift at half time. Although they rallied in the second half and more than matched London they were the wrong side of a 49-19 defeat.

The second match seemed a bit daunting as they were playing the South who were coming into the match on the back of a 53-12 drubbing of West Midlands. Yorkshire were a different side; well organised and passionate. It was too much for the South and Yorkshire came out on top 36-29. If only they had played like this in the first match

Confidence was high as they went on to play the West Midlands who weren’t having the best of days. So Yorkshire decided to give them a head start and tried to throw the game away early on. However, it all came together and they ran out 47-27 victors.

This meant that the showdown match was against the North West, a team with a strong record in the tournament. A victory would guarantee that they would be in the 3rd and 4th position play off match. Confidence was high. This confidence translated itself to the court and before long the North West were being taught a lesson in basketball and the Yorkshire team were playing with obvious joy. Then there were a series of bizarre events; Yorkshire were awarded a technical due to the comments and language of a North West Team member, their supporters started to join in which seemed to throw the team and to cap it all their number 4 started to play a blinder. It knocked Yorkshire for 6 and when the dust settled they had lost by 2 points 35-37. The Yorkshire fans and team felt a bit aggrieved. However there does seem to be justice when it transpired that as 3 teams had the same number of points that when they added up the points difference Yorkshire were placed second and the North West 4th.

All that remained was the 3rd/4th place play off the next day against the North East. By Sunday the Yorkshire team played as expected a strong organised team. A well deserved 45-22 victory ensued giving them the well earned 3rd place.

The feeling that their group was the strongest seemed to be justified when all the top 4 from their pool won against the top 4 in the other pool (maybe the second best team came third?). Eventually London retained their crown easily beating East England.

We’d like to extend our wishes to those players and family not from the Sharks and finally to 2 outstanding members of the team who were rewarded by inclusion in the national development process: Dennis Kaka from the Sharks and captain Oliver Hannam from Leeds. Those Sharks players who played can be found in the honours section. Well done everyone you made the Region proud.