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.
Week Beginning 01/05/2009
East Lothian U12 Boys were crowned National Champions on Sunday with their resounding 28 - 17 victory over Tayside in the final of the Peregrines Primary Inter Area Basketball Tournament.
The boys stormed through the group stages on their way to the final with resounding victories over Glasgow (35-4), North Lanarkshire (57-2) and Central (40-17). Central proved to be the toughest challenge for the East Lothian team, with their 5'10" Lithuanian shooting guard being their most potent weapon. However, the terrier-like defence of the diminuitive East Lothian team proved too much for Central and the Central scoring machine broke down under the swarming pressure of the East Lothian defence.
The final against Tayside was a close thing until midway through the third quarter, when once again the East Lothian defence proved too much for the Taysiders and the terriers pulled away from their opponents once more to lift the cup for East Lothian.
In the girls section East Lothian fayred less well with the girls finishing sixth in the round robin tournament. Stephen Duff, East Lothian Council's Principal Officer-Sports Development said, "I have been very impressed with the effort and work rate of both the boys and girls teams today. They are a credit to themselves and to the coaches and teachers that have been coaching them basketball."
Gary Smith, Head Coach of the East Lothian Squad commented,"I was a little concerned at the start of the season because the skill level of the team wasn't at the standard that it had been in the past. However, this squad has worked incredibly hard for the past six months and their team play is simply incredible. The team is really greater than the sum of its parts and their excellent teamwork is what has brought them this success at the National Championships."
Most of the players were also in action on Friday night at the annual Green v White basketball celebration at North Berwick Sports centre. As part of the evening's celebration North Berwick played against Haddington in the final match of the Youth League season. The evenly matched teams played a hard fought contest that North Berwick eventually won 21-14.