in the paint The Worcester Wolves Basketball Academy Newsletter issue 3 - April 2013 Academy sends new team into action page 2 U11s team compete at regional tournament. Eight members of the team invited to attend West Midlands trials. U18s have a great season page 3 around the teams - Read all about it! 5 of the best - a fan’s view page 4 Rob Appleby, Wolves fan for over a decade, names his top Wolves players. The Hick from French Lick page 5 who am I? One of the all-time basketball greats! Also in this month’s edition of in the paint The stats don’t lie! page 2 Do you know these men? page 3 Central Venue League report page 6 What do you call two Mexicans playing basketball? Juan on Juan. Did you know? There are many games that are variations on the sport of basketball. Some are derived directly from basketball and others just incorporate common basketball skills. Among them, Water Basketball and Beach Basketball are unlikely to suit players for whom dribbling is a strength. Slamball incorporates the use of trampolines and Unicycle Basketball is self-explanatory. Just play the game—and the game is basketball! 1 New Team Wolves Academy entered an U11s team into a regional tournament in Nechelles, Birmingham on Sunday 17th March. We finished in sixth place out of 8 teams. As a late entry into the tournament, our young team had not had chance to train and bond as a unit and this showed in the first two games. By the third game, the children were showing some cohesion and the game ended in a draw. We lost the tie on a golden-basket overtime period (first team to score wins). However, the tactics of the opposition in the third game left a lot to be desired and the win should have been ours. We comfortably won our fourth game and racked up a good score. The fifth and final game was a close affair and we were unlucky, losing by such a small margin. Well done to the children who gave their all and who provided some great enter- tainment and excitement. We were very well represented by parents, siblings and a few grandparents. It was good to see our friends at Frankley Falcons finishing third overall. Tournament winners, City of Birmingham, proved too good for the rest and deserved their win. With a view to the future, we selected a Coach Sarah Lewis and the team young team. Whilst the competition was open to teams of Year 5 and Year 6 children, five of our members were in Year 4. Our overall posi- tion may not have been helped by having such a young team. However, the players were all talent- ed, played hard, and will hopefully be able to train and develop as a unit in time for next season’s tournament. team members selected for trials Five boys from the Wolves team were among 23 boys from 8 teams invited to take part in trials. From the trials, ten boys will be selected to represent the West Midlands in this summer’s National Boys Competition. Three girls from the Wolves team were invited to take part in trials from which a team of ten girls will be selected to represent the West Midlands in the National Girls Competition, also to be held this summer. The stats don’t lie — personal fouls The 2005/2006 BBL Championship season saw plenty of personal fouls. Chad McKnight is at the top of the pile with 148 personal fouls in 40 games playing for Guildford Heat. Worcester Wolves former player Skouson Harker is second for the 2005/2006 season with 144 personal fouls in 38 games. However, with 132 personal fouls in 33 games during the 2008/2009 season, Skouson Harker is the only player to appear twice in the top twenty single-season personal fouls table for the BBL Champi- onship. In the current BBL Championship season (as of 31st March 2013), there are three Wolves players in the top 10 for personal fouls — I blame the referees! 2 Who And Who is this former Wolves is this current player and fans' Wolves player? favourite? Answers on page 5. around the teams U16s In the final month of the South West Conference league, the Wolves U16s won three of their four matches. Their only loss this month was a narrow two-point defeat at home to Dorset Storm. Having lead after each of the first 3 quarters, at one stage leading by 15 points, the Wolves’ play became sloppy in the final stanza allowing the visitors to gain a 54-56 win. Stroud Sharks, Taunton Tigers II, and Bristol Storm all succumbed to some good scoring from the Wolves in their final three games to give the Worcester team a great finish to the season. The Wolves finished 7th in the league with an 8-10 win/loss ratio. U18s Also starting the month in style were the Wolves U18s as they won 67-54 at home in their battle against Shropshire Warriors, a result which guaranteed the Wolves a top-two finish. The team ended the season in second place in the Midland Conference. Only 3 defeats all season, 2 against the eventual champions Birmingham A's and a narrow 1 point defeat against 3rd place Derbyshire Trailblazers. This is by far the best season for any Wolves junior National League team in the 5 years that Wolves juniors have been playing National League. Team captain Tom Cox said, "the guys have really pulled together this year as a team and the hard work put in during training has paid off when it matters, on the court. Only 3 defeats all season is a massive achievement and a huge improvement on last season. This year we had a smaller squad but everybody stepped up their game and we are now looking ahead to the play-offs". Wolves opponents in the 1st round of the play-offs has now been confirmed as Bucks Hornets, Champions of the East Conference. The match will take place in Aylesbury on Saturday 6th April. Should Wolves be successful their second round tie will be at the University of Worcester on Sat- urday 13th April. Victory in their final match of the Gloucester Men’s League Division 1 saw the Wolves clinch first place in the league. After finishing 7th in the pre-Christmas league Wolves were entered into the top division. Things didn’t look good at the start as Wolves lost their first game, but that was the only loss they would see, going on to win all their remaining league games. As a result the team has been invited to the Best of The West tournament in Exeter on the 15/16th June. 3 5 of the best—a fan’s view Long-time Wolves fan, Rob Appleby, looks back at his favourite players to have pulled on the Wolves strip. The 2012/13 season is Worcester Wolves 13th as a basketball club and 7th in the BBL. During that time over 100 players have worn the Wolves jersey and contributed to the club’s rise to the top level of British basketball. Having watched Wolves since they started, I have seen all those players come and go and have picked out five of my favourites. Here they are, in date order: Rick Solvason (2000-04) – Wolves player, captain and head coach, Rick led the team from the first games in 2000 to the double winning season in 2003/04 (check the banners in the sports hall). Cool on court and a deadly shooter, Rick was also the first Saturday morning coach. James Life (2007-08) – only played 24 games for Wolves, but they were all action. Deadly from downtown James hit 94 three-point shots (club record), won the BBL 3pt shoot-out at the NIA and scored 47 in one game at Cheshire. Anthony Paez (2007-09) – AP was a points machine, scoring 1,538 points in two seasons averaging nearly 25ppg, 10th best in BBL history. Add to that over 400 rebounds, 136 assists, 92 steals and countless alley-oops, AP was (in my opinion) undoubtedly Wolves best ever all-round player. David Watts (2010-12) – only the third Wolves player to make over 100 three-point shots David ended his time at the club with 126 threes, many of them match winners. Tintin was a fans’ favourite both on and off court. Tommy Freeman (2011-12) – aptly named, Freeman was Wolves most accu- rate shooter ever from the free throw line, making 148/168 at 88.1% (6th best in BBL history) including a streak of over 60 without a miss. With 560 pts, including 92 threes, Tommy was top points scorer in Wolves best ever season in the BBL. Those are my Favourite Five – who would you choose? Rob Appleby 4 who am I? I came into the world on December 7th, 1956 in West Baden, Indiana, USA. Named Larry Joe Bird, I grew up in West Baden and the neighbouring town of French Lick, which led to me being known in later years as ‘the hick from French Lick’. Like a lot of basketball players of my time, I came from a poor family. Life was a struggle for my parents, we had little money, and my father had problems. His prob- lems were possibly a result of serving in the Korean War where many soldiers suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (something little known about in those days).