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JUNIOR AND SENIOR MEN’S TRAINING ONLY ON TUESDAY EVENINGS

THROUGHOUT SUMMER MONTHS

From now on there will be no Thursday evening Men’s training at BRJ on Thursday evening.

All players who are interested in training throughout the Summer months and playing for the Junior (18) and Senior men’s squads in the 2008 / 09 season are invited to participate in the weekly sessions which will be running at Sport TCAT on Tuesday evenings from 8 to 10 pm.

The sessions will give all who attend ample opportunity to play competitively and intensely and to impress Coach Carsten Dieterich who will be running both squads in the new season. The cost of participation in these sessions is £4.00.

The Club is looking to strengthen both the Junior and Senior Men’s squads prior to the commencement of the new season. Players who have not previously played for the Warriors, but who think that they have the talent and the level of commitment required to play at Junior Men’s National League or Senior West Midlands Premier League levels, are invited to come along on Tuesdays.

Anyone who has any questions about these sessions is invited to contact Coach Dieterich for a chat. His phone number is 0771 5816400 or call Carsten under 07777 632276. Or contact Carsten over email: dieterich4@btinternet.com

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Warriors Women Clinch West Midlands / League Championship

Our Senior Women’s squad have clinched a first ever West Midlands League Championship following a memorable win over defending Champions Birmingham Force in the final match of their West Midlands Premier League Season at Sport TCAT on Thursday evening. (30 th April)

Both the Warriors and the Force had gone through their respective league campaigns losing only one game each, and both teams were fully aware that the fate of the Championship would be decided by the outcome of this crucial game.

Coach Terry Sanders’ team might have been expected to have a distinct psychological advantage over the Force following their comfortable away win two weeks ago in the two teams’ first meeting of the season. However the Force are highly experienced and were always dangerous opponents.

With Hayley Crosbie leading the way as she has done so much this season, the Warriors build up a 24 to 13 point lead in the first quarter. However, with our defence finding it increasingly difficult to control Force’s star guard Gemma Salmon, and our offence beginning to falter, the Force reduced the deficit to just 5 at the half.

With the momentum with them the visitors took the lead for the first time at the end of the third period. They then stretched away to lead by 63 to 56 as the game entered its final 5 minutes. At that point things looked bad for the Shropshire Girls. However, cheered on by a large home crowd, our girls then showed their true character. Hayley came back to life with 7 points in four minutes including 5 from 6 crucial free-shots to bring the score back to all-square at 68 as the final nail-biting last minute begun.

Rachel Barrow scored a crucial basket and captain Michelle Bartlett knocked down another free throw to give the Warriors a three-point lead with just seconds on the clock. The Force had the chance to send the game into overtime when Hasenar Aktar, a tremendous 3-point shooter, was fouled attempting a last ditch 3. To the Warriors relief she could only make one of her subsequent 3 frees and the final buzzer sent the home crowd and the players into raptures. .

Warriors scorers were Hayley Crosbie (25), Millie Reynolds (18), Sally Harris (12), Rachel Barrow (8), Michelle Bartlett 4, Sarah Collins (2) and Mary Hasenauer (2).

The Club wishes to congratulate Coach Sanders and his girls on this terrific achievement, which is a testimony to his and the girl’ hard word over the last couple of seasons. It is great that they have finally got their just rewards.

MATCH REPORT ONLINE NOW UNDER TEAMS!!!

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YOUNG WARRIORS FINISH 5 TH IN FOUR DAY EASTER

EUROBASKET TOURNAMENT IN PRAGUE

Our Under 16 Boys Basketball Squad has just arrived back in the UK following a tiring but highly beneficial four days in Prague, where they took part in the Easter Eurobasket Tournament.

The Eurobasket tournament brought together 86 boys teams and 55 girls teams from all over Europe for three days of intense competition in a hall that had no less than 40 courts. Warriors were the only British Club participating.

The teams were split into a number of age categories, with our boys playing in the 91 born and under group with eight other teams from, seven from Eastern Europe and one from the Netherlands. The strength of this age group competition can be seen in the fact that no less than four of the teams – Lokomotiv Sered (Slovakia), Black Eagles Rosmalen (Netherlands), Daugavpils/Kraslava (Latvia) and BC Boys (Montenegro) - were current National Champions.

Our boys begun their first day of competition be playing BC Boys, who are the feeder Club for Euroleague giants Red Star Belgrade. This game proved to the boys how big a challenge the event presented, as BC played a type of intense in your face defence, and showed a quality of technical proficiency our guys had never experienced.

After losing 38 to 65 to BC the boys then won a friendly against BSM Sokolov from Czechoslovakia to lift their spirits.

Day Two saw the boys again take on BSK Sokolov in a competition game, which they won 69 to 36, and then face Lokomotiva Sered, the eventual Champions, who they lost to 36 to 89. They then followed this with another friendly with Black Eagles, the eventual runners up. The latter two games were as tough as the opener had been but it was clear that our boys were becoming increasingly comfortable under pressure.

On day three the boys again took on the Black Eagles, and showed that they had learned important lessons from the first two days. They accredited themselves very well, holding the Eagles to just 4 points at the half but eventually going down 33 to 52.

They were then straight back on court to faced up to the might of Latvian Champions Daugavpils/Kraslava who they went down to by 29 to 71, and then finished off their campaign by beating Sokol Horni Podernice, 70 to 69, the home town favourites, in a rear nail-biter on front of a large partisan crowd to clinch a highly creditable fifth placed position in the Championship Table.

Head Coach Mark Wilson was delighted by the efforts of his squad during the course of the four days. He believes that his guys improved significantly as individuals and as a team as a result of having faced quality opposition in every game, and hopes that this experience will serve them well on Saturday when they take on City of Birmingham at Sport TCAT at 2.00 pm in the 1 st Round of the National League Cadet Men’s Play Offs. He hopes that a large crowd will be at TCAT to cheer the boys on.

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Cookson Super-Show The Key To Warriors Juniors (01.03.)

Victory Over Cannons

Our Junior Men’s Squad turned in one of their best performances of a generally disappointing season today when they overpowered visitors Leicester Cannons at Sport TCAT.

The Warriors started slowly and were up by only 4 at the end of the first period, However, led by their inspirational captain Ashley Cookson, they built up the pressure on the Cannons throughout the rest of the games to run out convincing victors 83 to 48.

Cookson was the game’s undoubted MVP with a season high 38 points and countless assists as the Warriors stretched away to a 31 to 17 lead at the break and then built on this lead impressively throughout the second half. Ashley was ably supported by all his squad members, each of who got substantial court time

The team’s other scorers were the ever-improving Jonathan Humphreys with 12, Kendall Jones (8). Tim Pillow (8), Ben Parry (8), Gaz Harrison (5), and Robbie Smith (4).

The Warriors have one remaining fixture ahead of them – a long distance treck to Lincoln to take on the Lynx on Sat 15 th March. A victory in that final game will take the Warriors up above Sheffield Sharks into fourth position in the League Table

Team	Played	Wins	Losses	For	Against	Pts Diff.	Points
Milton Keynes Lions	14	13	1	1326	675	651	40
Notts Nova	14	13	1	1291	777	514	40
Worcester Wolves	14	10	4	983	797	186	34
Sheffield Junior Sharks	14	6	8	874	1016	-142	25
Shropshire Warriors	13	5	8	645	897	-252	23
Ilkeston Outlaws	14	4	10	813	1143	-330	22
Lynx Cougars Lincoln	12	2	10	644	907	-263	16
Leicester Cannons	13	1	12	746	1110	-364	14

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Basketball Playing Opportunities For Telford Youngsters

Working in conjunction with Telford and Wrekin Council, Telford College of Art and Technology and Blessed Robert Johnson Catholic College, our Club has arranged weekly training opportunities for young players who are interested in improving their skills and knowledge, and playing competitively on a regular basis. These are for players across the whole Primary and Secondary School age range and take place at the Blessed Robert Johnson Catholic College on Apley Avenue Wellington by kind permission of the Headteacher.

Players in School Years 3 & 4

Day: Mondays Time: 7.00 pm to 8.00 pm
Venue: Blessed Robert Johnson Catholic College Cost: £2.00

Players in School Years 5 & 6

Day: Mondays Time: 7.00 pm to 8.00 pm
Venue: Blessed Robert Johnson Catholic College Cost: £2.00

Players in School Years 7, 8 & 9

Day: Wednesdays Time: 6.00 pm to 7.30 pm
Venue: Blessed Robert Johnson Catholic College Cost: £2.50

Players in School Years 10 and 11

Day: Thursdays Time: 6.30 pm to 8.00 pm
Venue: Blessed Robert Johnson Catholic College Cost: £2.50

Sessions are led by EB qualified coaches who have been Criminal Records Bureau checked.

Teams selected from the sessions represent Telford CATS in friendly matches against players of similar age ages and abilities who play at other Clubs within the County at the Region.

Players who attend these sessions and are identified as showing genuine talent in the sport will be invited to become involved in their respective County Schools "Warriors" age group development squads, from which teams are entered into the Junior National League.

Any player or parent interested in these sessions is asked to contact Tom Sunley on 0771 847 2362 or at sunley.tom@btinternet.com .

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If you would like copies of any of the photographs from the Warriors website, please contact Carsten via email:

dieterich4@btinternet.com

WARRIORS ANNOUNCE END OF SEASON AWARDS

The Club presented their end of season awards to players, coaches and volunteers at it’s traditional Fun day on Saturday (12 th June).

click the picture to see the gallery!!!

The afternoon started with members of all the Clubs National and Regional League Squads participating for two hours in two fun, but nevertheless competitive “senior” and “junior” tournaments on Sport TCAT’s two courts in from of a large number of spectators.

On the completion of these tournaments Club President and Chairman Mark Harrison acted as Masters of Ceremony as each of the Club’s Head Coaches revued their Squad’s seasons and presentation Boxed Medals donated by Club Sponsors Inprints and Sportserve to the winners of Most Valuable Player, Most Improved Player and Team Spirit awards.

Award Winners were:

U14 Girls

Most Valuable Player Kay Evans

Most Improved Player Holly Wild

Team Spirit Award Phillipa Howell

U14 Boys

Most Valuable Player Aiden Reynolds

Most Improved Player Stephen Byrne

Team Spirit Award Garrett Dadosky

U16 Girls

Joint Most Valuable Players Katie Harris

& Rachel Shanks

Most Improved Player Poppy Bennett

Team Spirit Award Jess Gilpin

click the picture to see the gallery!!!

U16 Boys

Most Valuable Player Ben Parry

Most Improved Players Jamie Bott

& Jacob Swaine

U18 Boys

Most Valuable Player Ashley Cookson

Most Improved Player Jonathan Humphreys

Team Spirit Award Phil Crum

Senior Men

Most Valuable Player Kris Parsons

Most Improved Player Shaun Jones

Team Spirit Award Kevin King

Senior Women

Most Valuable Players Hayley Crosbey

& Millie Reynolds

Most Improved Player Rachel Barrow

Team Spirit Award Sarah Collins

Following the presentation of the Payers’ Awards Presentations were then made to the following Coaches and Volunteers:

Coaches of the Year Sally Harris

& Shaun Reynolds

Volunteers of the Year Matt Dadosky

Julie Dadosky

Mark Harrison

Mike Pritchard

The Final Awards of the afternoon were two new awards – the Frank Di Donato Award and the Tom Sunley Award , which will be presented annually by the Shropshire Schools Basketball Association to the boy and girl player who have been deemed to have been deemed to have shown the most outstanding attitude and contribution towards basketball in the past season.

The winners of these Awards were:

Frank Di Donato Trophy hamie Bott

Tom Sunley Trophy Kay Evans.

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JUNIOR AND SENIOR MEN’S TRAINING ONLY ON TUESDAY EVENINGS

THROUGHOUT SUMMER MONTHS

From now on there will be no Thursday evening Men’s training at BRJ on Thursday evening.

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Warriors Continue Their Charge Up Table With Third Straight Win

Result: Redditch Regents 69 Warriors 84

Our Senior Men’s made it three wins in a row when they travelled to Redditch tonight and rolled over the high-flying Regents at Arrow Vale. Our guys’ charge up the table echoes their last year’s charge, which ended in a fourth placed position in this elite league.

This season has seen our young squad containing a number of players under the age of 20 – an oddity in the Premier Division, which is dominated by older and highly experienced players who are enjoying their swan songs in competitive bal.

This was a particularly impressive victory, as the team were without guards Shaun Jones and Josh Crutchley (both U20 and in Edinburgh playing for the Panthers against Scottish Rocks), Jonathan Sketchley (Aged 21 and injured) and Dave Lace (U21 and working); and big men Luke Grant, Sepp Sargeant, Dan Graham, and Kevin King (all unavailable working).

Our depleted squad contested the fist 20 minutes but went into the half time break 12 points down. However, with Coach Dieterich coming off the bench to provide his experience nd long-range threat at guard, a third period blitz saw us pull back to within 1 with 10 minutes to go. In the final quarter our resurgence continued with our defence restricting the demoralised Regents to just 11 points whilst our offence piled on 27

Guard Kris Parsons and Centre Simon Hoar dominated our scoring with 26 points each, but this was far more than a two-man performance. Coach Dieterich (whose second half 13 points were instrumental in the come-back) was delighted with the attitude and work rate of his team, which bodes well for the remainder of the season.

The Warriors have just three games to play. On Thursdays 10 th April they take on defending Champions Warley at BRJ at 8.15 pm. They then travel to Birmingham to take on Aston Athletics on Sunday 13 th before completing their fixtures with the home game against West Midlands Police on Thursday 24 th.

WEST MIDLANDS MEN’S PREMIER DIVISION TABLE MARCH 16 TH 2008

TEAMS	Played	Won	Lost	P.For.	P.Ag.	POINTS
Warley 'A'	10	9	1	907	655	28
Wolves CC	9	9	0	735	626	27
Chase Panthers	12	7	5	948	839	26
Redditch Regents	12	7	5	964	917	26
Shropshire Warriors	13	5	8	909	980	23
Great Barr Lasers	12	4	8	716	823	20
Black Country Bears	12	2	10	885	1056	16
Aston Athletics	7	4	3	535	465	15
West Midlands Police	9	1	8	512	750	11

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Warriors Proud To Link With The Panthers

Our Club is proud to have played a part in bringing BBL Basketball to Telford for the first time.

Our relationship with Team Birmingham Panthers Owner Herman Wilson goes back for several years. Our earliest meetings / encounters with Herman were in our first days in the Junior National League when our first cadet and Junior Men’s team took on Herman’s Birmingham XL Teams away at Stockland Green and at Home at TCAT’s old Bennet’s Bank Sports Hall.

Those encounters were always enjoyable as we always knew we were going to play against quality players who had received expert tuition from Herman. Whether we won (occasionally) or lost (usually) the experience was always good.

Over the years though the XL programme sadly closed down many of our players and coaches have kept up their link with Herman and his players via the TCAT Academy’s tussles with Mathew Bolton College.

Last season our relationship with Herman was developed further when Herman agreed to accept our invitation to take on the role of Head Coach to our Senior Men’s West Midlands Premier Division Squad. When he agreed to take on this voluntary role Herman brought with him three quality players – big men Ryan Lewis and Emile Hopkins, and power forward Jason Prince.

Though Herman had to leave his Head Coach role to concentrate on his ambitions to bring BBL Basketball back to Birmingham, and though injury led to Jason missing the last part of the season, Ryan and Emile were instrumental in helping our Men to achieve their highest ever finish in the Premier Division. Both players were in contention for our Player of The Year Award, with Emile eventually piping Ryan for that award.

Josh Crutchley (Number 14)

It was with great delight that we then saw Herman achieving his goal of being awarded the Panthers’ franchise by the BBL, Ryan joining the Black Country Wolves EBL programme, and Emile gaining a contract with Leicester Riders.

After all those close connections it is a real pleasure for our Club to have played a part in bringing Herman’s Panthers team to Sport TCAT for their BBL home games against Newcastle Eagles and Plymouth Raiders on Sunday 17 th and Saturday 23 rd February.

Shaun Jones (Number 11)

We are delighted that two of the players who have come through our development programme – Josh Crutchley and Shaun Jones - have recently joined the Panthers’ roster and were in uniforms for those two games. Shaun and Josh have subsequently become an integral part of the Panthers’ line up in the last month.

We are now working with Herman, TCAT and Telford and Wrekin Council in a concerted effort to relocate the Franchise to Telford for the 2008 09 BBL season. Watch this space for updates on developments.

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Warriors Basketball Programme Receives National Acclaim
From The Game’s Governing Body

Our Club has received major National acclaim in the last week. England Basketball has awarded us both 4 Star Club Status and Club Mark 100 Status. The award of Club Mark status recognises that the Club operates to the highest quality assurance standards, and the award of 4 Star Club Status indicates that the Club runs one of the biggest competitive programmes in the Country in terms of the number of its National League teams, the number of players involved in the Club’s various squads and the number of qualified coaches and officials that operate within its programme.

These awards are enormous achievements for the Club. We becomes one of an elite group of Clubs to be Club Mark Accredited and one of only 7 Clubs in the Country to be awarded 4 Star Club Status. The only other Four Star Clubs are all Big City outfits, Bristol, Northants, Reading Rockets, Solent Stars, Stockport, and West Herts Warriors. Greater Manchester are the Country’s only 5 Star Accredited Club.Steve Darlow, EB’s Club Accreditation Officer says, “The Warriors Club Mark submission file was the most comprehensive that I have received, It is clear that there is a tremendous amount of good work going on at the Club. This is a tribute to all those volunteers involved in their programme.”The most immediate tangible reward for the Club will be a cheque for £1000, This will be used to help us expand the number and develop the quality of our volunteer workforce. We also hope that this National recognition will encourage major sponsors to offer financial support to enable us to expand our junior programme and to also enable us to bring to fruition our plans to bring EBL Men’s and Women’s Basketball to Telford in the foreseeable future.Any Company, organisation or individual willing to support the programme is invited to contact Club President Tom Sunley on 01952 505865