Friday, 23 April 2010

HCC’s basketball talent shoots to the top








Hackney Community College’s basketballers have done it again!!!!
Both the men and women's team have won the British Colleges National Championships for the sixth time in the last seven years!

HCC’s women’s team defeated the Tyne Mets (North East regional champions) and the Men thrashed the Birmingham Mets (West Midlands regional champions) at this year's final held at Loughborough University.

This pair of trophies is the latest to be added to our already huge collection and we're sure an expansion of the cabinet will be in order soon as we expect more trophies to keep on coming.

The under 19 Men are unbeaten so far this year, winning 3 National titles of the 7 available in the year.
Our magnificent Basketball Academy just continues to produce the finest athletes, as indicated by our consistent success. If you don't believe me check out what some of our former players are doing now.

Ex HCC Academy players Samuel Toluwase (Essex Pirates) and Darrell Bethune (Everton Tigers) made pro British Basketball League debuts this year and HCCA graduate Rachel James progressed to the GB U20 Women's squad.

These successes join Ex HCC player Darius Defoe who plays for Newcastle Eagles and Perry Lawson (Sheffield Sharks) at professional level of their sport.

The Basketball Academy players at HCC train hard and play hard – and that includes their academic training as well. If you're not up to scratch with your College work then you don't play on the team. As simple as that. This acts as great motivation for students on and off the court. Here is what some of the players have to say about their experience at the academy.
Andre John-Baptiste, aged 17 said: " This is my first year at the Academy and I have enjoyed it alot so far. I have made alot of new friends and feel like a part of a great big family who work together to achieve success."

Fatumah Lwazi, aged 19 and also captain of the women's team said: "I have improved alot since joining the academy three years ago, in both my sporting ability and academics. It is a lot of hard work in training but it feels so good to win trophies at the end. The Academy is a great place and I will definitely miss being a part of it when I go off to university later this year."

Hackney Community College is one of just a handful in the country to offer the Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (basketball). The college runs sports academies in basketball, football, athletics and cricket. If you think you’ve got what it takes - or would like to try it out, contact Karen Nixon at knixon@hackney.ac.uk

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