Over 100 Cheney students have played in the basketball County finals this year, with 60 taking part in the finals that took place after school last Wednesday at Oxford Brookes University.
There was a great crowd of student supporters cheering the 9 teams on, to win 6 out of 8 County finals. This included the U13 boys final putting our A team against our B team!
In Oxfordshire there are 10 basketball leagues - 5 for boys and 5 for girls in the age-groups Under 13, Under 14, Under 15, Under 16 and Under 19. Cheney has a team in 9 of the leagues, as well as B teams in many leagues to make 14 teams overall. This makes for a very busy fixture list: overall 62 games have been played, with 52 games won, losing 10. The A squads have played 46 games; winning 44 and losing 2. The B Squads have played 16 games and have won 8 and lost 8.
The secret to success
‘Basketball was introduced at Cheney 10-15 years ago’, says PE teacher Mr Harley, ‘so we have a well established coaching team.’ Mr Harley coaches all the teams, training each year group every morning between 8-9 am. He also trains students going for their referee badge. He explains:
"The game-changer was when outside hoops were introduced 7-8 years ago. Everyone wanted to play, with the older pupils teaching the younger players."
One Year 11 student will go on to be part of the Reading National Academy league team - one of 12 basketball academies in the country. She has also completed her referee training along with two other Year 11s, who referee games regularly.
The committed coaching team use a top down approach and with older pupils mentoring others, the results speak for themselves:
Basketball County Final Results:
U19 Girls won County Final 51 vs 22 Cherwell
U19 Boys lost County Final 55 vs 63 Cherwell
U16 Girls won County Final 73 vs 30 King Alfreds
U16 Boy won County Final 101 vs 60 King Alfred’s
U13 Boys Cheney A County Final 65 vs 22 Cheney B
U14 Boys lost County Final 56 vs 77 Oxford Spires
U14 Girls County Final 65 vs King Alfreds 21
U15 Boys County Final 96 vs 79 Cherwell
Finals to be played:
U13 Girls County Final vs Cherwell still to be played
A huge congratulations to all the players and everyone involved with the basketball teams for a fantastic season!...
...And the good news is, pupils new to the school can’t wait to get in on the action - at the recent Year 7 trials, 50 girls and over 40 boys turned up - and they started training last week. This makes for an exciting new season. GO Cheney!