Rob Woodhead
After working as a Sports & Physical Activities Coordinator for the past 5 years, Rob has made the move to the Sports Development Team to develop a joint remit of Basketball & Disability Sport. A graduate of Liverpool John Moores University in Combined Sports & Education Studies, Rob followed his passion for coaching and development. A keen player and coach of Basketball for the past ten years, Rob has been heavily involved in Basketball, both in West Yorkshire and Merseyside. After working for Active Schools Rob developed a keen interest in Disability Sport and has seen great success with the Athletes at Musselburgh Grammar School. Rob has strong plans for both Basketball & Disability Sport in East Lothian and is very excited to be part of a dynamic and forward thinking Sports Development Team.

Basketball

 

Celtic Challenge – Scotland U18 Men Basketball

International basketball comes to East Lothian, Scotland under u18 men play Wales 20s and Ireland 18’s over the weekend of 25-27th June at Musselburgh Sports Centre, as part of their preparation for European Champs in Tel Aviv, Israel.   The young Scots will play Belgium, Bosnia, Hungary and Portugal in their pool where they hope to progress to the latter rounds; the Scots have already beaten the Portuguese at the prestigious Cherbourg International Tournament in April.   The Scots placed third at this event, their best ever result, with England placing sixth; however Coach Doug Reilly recognises that those games were the opening salvoes with the main battle to be fought in Tel Aviv.

As part of their preparation, and to promote basketball in East Lothian the team will be undertaking a number of training sessions in schools across East Lothian in the run up to the series of games, this will allow children across the region to see their heroes in person and to pick up some tips for the future.   This is particularly relevant in North Berwick where two locals, Niall Mackle and Grant Mackay are key members of the squad, Mackay is also part of the Great Britain 2012 programme, designed to identify potential Great Britain performers.   Mackay is one of five such players in the squad the others being Lee Reilly, Alasdair Fraser, Johhny Bunyon and Cameron Buchan, a number of the players are scheduled to play abroad after Tel Aviv, Fraser will be playing NCAA Division1 basketball in the United States, at the University of Maine, two other players, Fraser Glass and Ben Warrington will be playing in New Zealand and Spain respectively.

Players have been selected from across Scotland, with the bulk from a dominant Falkirk team which won League and Cup, with the 6’10” Fraser to the fore.   This is the culmination of three years hard work, both players and coaches with many of the team being together since winning the European C Division in Gibraltar in 2008, and placing 2nd in Andorra in 2006.

Tel Aviv represents a significant challenge with the tournament being played over 13 days and with 21 teams competing, with such powerhouses, both in population and basketball pedigree, as England, Netherlands, Hungary and obviously the hosts Israel.   With that in mind, the Scots have already had an intensive pre tournament preparation with tournaments in Manchester at Christmas, Cherbourg, a home series in Musselburgh and a tournament in Spain.   In addition the team will be training intensively at venues across Scotland with a Great Britain 2012 training camp in Bristol in between.   Doug Reilly is confident that the home stand against two teams who have their own European ambitions can only assist in the preparations, the team is further backed up with physio, nutrition and technical support such as video analysis and both team and player statistics.

Team Squad

 

John Bunyan

Lee Reilly

Alasdair Fraser

Euan Cameron

Cameron Buchan

Grant Mackay

Niall Mackle

Kyle Haldane

Ben Warrington

Dale Grieve

Brian Munnoch

Fraser Glass