Preview: U18 Women’s European Championships
The GB U18 Women continue their FIBA European Championship preparations today as they fly out to Greece for a pair of valuable warm up games before embarking on their European Championships campaign in Macedonia in early July.
The pre-tournament prep in Greece caps off an intense two weeks of training camp at the National Basketball Performance Centre in Manchester, and will feature two games against the Greek U18 Women’s team on 1st and 2nd July.
Once those preparations are concluded, Coach Len Busch’s side will head to the Macedonian capital of Skopje, where they will compete in Group D of the European Championships, Division B.
Their first game will see them take on the Netherlands on July 5th at the Sports Centre Jane Sandanski II, Skopje before facing Sweden, Ukraine, Albania and Luxemburg to conclude the group stage.
The team finished 10th in Division B a year ago when the Championships were held in Austria, narrowly missing out on a Quarter Finals spot after finishing their group in third place but dipping out on a head-to-head tiebreaker.
This year’s squad is a young group which sees just two returnees from that campaign a year ago, with the addition of 7 players from the GB U16 set-up.
“To me, all the players are new” said Coach Busch, who is taking charge of the side for the first time this summer. “The ones who played last year have grown and developed and are different from who they were last year. The young ones from the U16 team will be stepping up to a higher level of basketball that they are ready for.”
Despite having a young team, Coach Busch is looking for the new additions to play an important role in GB’s push for a place in Division A. The last few weeks in Manchester and the upcoming camp in Greece will allow the squad to gain the experience it needs to have a successful tournament and a successful future in GB colours.
“As this is a new team, our aim is to be the best team we can be and represent GB well. Our goal is to play hard, stay together and get better each time we step on the floor,” said Busch.
“As we are relatively young, we want to establish the habits and processes that will help us to be even better next year. We would like to see all these young players develop as basketball players and people as they advance in the GB programme.”
The FIBA U18 Women’s European Championships will run from July 4-14. The squad list of the 12 players selected for the tournament is as follows:
| Rebecca Adjeiwaah-Dwomoh, CTEIB (Spain) |
| Asha Andrews, Sevenoaks Suns |
| Brahe Ashton, Nottingham Wildcats |
| Alex Baker, Charnwood College |
| Hannah Dawson, Charnwood College |
| Clara Kelly, TuSLi Basketball (Germany) |
| Esther Little, Ipswich Basketball |
| Jade Mbam, Manchester Mystics |
| Olivia Partridge, Sevenoaks Suns |
| Amelia Sandie, City of London Academy/Southwark Pride |
| Pollyanna Storie, University of Edinburgh/Caledonia Pride |
| Cameron Taylor-Willis, Ipswich Basketball |
Staff:
Head Coach – Len Busch
Assistant Coach – Chris Bunten
Assistant Coach – Rosalie Mason
Team Manager – Renee Busch
Physio – David Hall