Springsoles.co.uk BLOG

The Men’s British Sitting Volleyball team conquer a strong Greek team to enter the Top 10 in Europe for the first time.

The match was a nail-biting encounter to decide who would establish themselves within the top group of Sitting Volleyball teams in Europe. GB had to pull out all the stops to claw back from a 2 set deficit to the aggressive Greek team, who were seeking revenge for their 3-2 set defeat earlier in the week. Only 3 days after winning their first match at a European Championships since the Great Britain Programme began, the team were supported with a good crowd who were not disappointed as they were entertained for over 2 hours, with a match that once again had numerous twists and turns.

The first and second sets saw the Greeks slowly edge ahead playing a much more tactical game than previously, and although GB held their own point for point, some good serving from the Greeks saw them into a two set lead.

The third and fourth sets saw the GB squad pick up their game and adjust to the new tactics being played by Greece.  With the same bulldog spirit which has seen them come back in this tournament on a number of occasions, when other teams thought they were finished, they rallied themselves and hit back hard taking the next two sets 25-19, 27-25 to tie the game.

The final set saw GB and Greece battle for every point with GB edging ahead with some great covering play from their defence, and some superb tactical shots from the attack. They continued back with aggressive determination making every ball count, their tenaciousness proving too much for Greece who succumbed to a 15-11 defeat in the final set, giving GB the Match and the final placing of 10th.

Sitting Volleyball Development Manager, Matt Rogers, comments:“The European Championships have been a fantastic experience for the squad, which has recently be reinvigorated since being taken over by Volleyball England. With plans already underway for some International friendlies in November, and more players being identified at the ParalympicsGB Talent ID day, things are looking very promising at present for Sitting Volleyball in preparation for 2012.”

The dust has now settled on EuroBasket 2009 and the shift in focus begins in earnest this weekend as all eyes move away from Poland and to last weeks tip-off of a new BBL season.

Just before I follow suit, it has been interesting reflecting on a hugely entertaining Eurobasket tournament. In terms of Great Britain, I think the consensus is that the team did as well as it could in the circumstances – an assessment that is probably difficult to disagree with.

It has been great meeting so many people through my scribings over at FIBA Europe and I have had the benefit of hearing from a plentiful number of fans and people involved in the game from across the continent. Most have congratulated GB on their efforts despite leaving Polish soil winless and there has also been plenty of discussion on whether Chris Finch is the coach to lead GB into 2012 and whether a wild card for next years World Championship is possibly in the offing.

One Serbian friend has told me that legendary coach Svetislav Pesic is the man to lead GB and that doesn’t have to be as Head Coach but as a consultant for BPB to oversee a radical overhaul with EB of the way we develop young players.

It is hard to disagree with having someone with so much experience of Serbian basketball involved in the UK and my friend did point out that if a Swede and then an Italian can manage the cherished English football team then anything is possible.

More to the point, the Serbian model is genuinely amazing as evidenced by Serbia attaining a silver medal as the youngest team in the tournament at Eurobasket 2009 evidences. Of course such an idea is only the tip of a very big iceberg but it has been intriguing hearing the views of others from the outside looking in.

I still think Finch did a good job although hiring the likes of Pesic as a consultant would be money very well spent – if all parties were willing to take on board recommendations, work together and act. After all, 2012 could be the final opportunity.

As for the wild card spot, GB will have to push hard against this World Championship door for it to open and it looks highly unlikely they will be able to attain one – I really hope I am wrong. My weekly copy of Spanish basketball magazine Gigantes Del Basket also deemed it unlikely and that kind of made me a little depressed although they did suggest the focus of GB should be on qualifying for Eurobasket 2011 in Lithuania.

I guess we will have to wait and see.

Anyway, it’s another BBL season and I am starting to feel old. Not only am I asking for a nasal hair trimmer as a Birthday gift but I am forgetting so much these days about the BBL days gone by that it is beginning to seriously worry me – thank goodness we have ‘The Glove’ Tony Holley on board this year to help us atwww.bbl.org.uk!

I have been bombarded with requests from people asking me what I think about almost every BBL team this year but I am sick of being battered for my sometimes overly bold predictions and received some serious stick doing the Eurobasket previews. Therefore I am cowardly deciding that holding my tongue is the best strategy.

Well, not entirely as I do think broadly speaking both Everton and Newcastle will fight it out again for the BBL title while I really like what the Rocks have done in the off season but a lack of continuity, no guarantee of chemistry and a lack onf one more big man could be an issue.

Elsewhere I think that Plymouth in particular will find it tough as their clearout looks to have come twelve months too late while I am looking forward to seeing Coach Titmuss and the’ league of nations’ at Worthing Thunder.

Aside from that, Vince Macaulay still does a great job in hyping up his team and after a dip last year, I think they could be back challenging while Chuck Evans has a great opportunity with Worcester Wolves to finally make a move up the table.

Plus we have a new team in Essex Pirates and having spent some time with Tim Lewis at GB games all summer, it is all fascinating stuff and it is going to be a great BBL season I am sure.

Before I know it, I will have been to Turkey for the FIBA Worlds and it will be 2010 with another season starting. I am therefore so eager not to let this one pass me by. So, good luck to everyone and above anything else, I hope it is a competitive and entertaining season and we can all come together as one to support the league.

Just finally, while I mentioned at the beginning of this column that there will be a natural change in focus from the GB National team to our respective league clubs at this time, both myself and the BBL will be focusing on broadening all of our collective horizons as we move through this year.

This will involve more round-ups of what is happening across Europe and even further afield as the season unfolds, something that I certainly feel is important for British basketball and its fans.

While the domestic league rightly remains the number one priority for most of us, a first EuroBasket tournament and the interest / knowledge of other countries, leagues and their players has been a welcome addition for many fans as British Basketball finally gets a foothold and profile in Europe.

Consequently now is the time to showcase the BBL and its fans to highlight many of us have a thirst of knowledge for European basketball and that the league itself is not wanting to be outwardly detached from Europe – even if behind the scenes that has never truly been the case.

I can’t wait for another terrific season both at home and on the Continent so I hope you will all choose a second league or team to follow this year outside of this Isle.

Oh and for the record and for the avoidance of any doubt, while I am a huge basketball fan in general and try my best to remain neutral, I don’t think it is any secret that Newcastle Eagles, Unicaja (Spain and Euroleague) are my teams. You can now also add General Construction Napoli (Italian Women Div 2 South) to that list.

I will be watching with interest and I hope.

For Koeln 99ers basketball team, the game is over after their second insolvency. Eisbäeren Bremerhaven will be the 18th team of the Bundesliga Basketball League.

The financial ups and downs of the Cologne club ends with the definite offside. The champions of 2006 retire, according to the an announcement from the national league.

“It is better for reasons of fairness to the league and other teams not to stagger in a new season,” said the 99s’ management. So Cologne Bremerhaven will take part in the national league this coming season.

Giants Noerdlingen had already decided to pull out, and it’s obvious that something is going wrong in German basketball if we consider the long list of clubs that have had economic trouble through the past years. It’s only a matter of time before the next sad story is written.

However, the 99ers will not even be given permission to start in the second tier of the Bundesliga, like Noerdlingen will do in the upcoming season. The AG 2 Bundesliga had stated that there is no spot left for the Koeln team.

Meanwhile, the SG Koeln 99ers, who run the farm team in the Oberliga and the 99ers youth programme, will continue to operate. But it’s a fact that big basketball will operate without a team from the fourth largest city in Germany for a while.

It was said that their explanation of the economic conditions did not allow it. The search for further sponsors did not bring about the desired success, either.

Cologne had wanted to participate with a team containing eight German professionals under contract. But the budget of 1.2m euros was considerably below the sum planned for this strategy.

Jan Pommer, managing director of the national league, said: “It is good that we have certainty about the participant teams and, with that, planning reliability for all involved. We particularly appreciate the fight of the Cologne management to take part. The concept of “team Germany” regrettably has not met with sufficient approval”.

Now the lights go out for professional basketball in Cologne for the second time. The club made the first insolvency application in 2006 when patron Herbert Zimmer could not meet his liabilities.

Promoted Mitteldeutscher BC and Phoenix Hagen, teams that had to leave the league some years ago because they had financial problems, will return for the 43rd season, which starts on October 9.

With the absence of star players, commitment and motivation for the rest of the squad and the position of coach Chris Finch are all likely to come under review as Great Britain consider their early exit from the European Championships in Poland.

GB surprised many last year as they became the first home nation to qualify for the EuroBasket tournament since England did so in 1981.

But - aside from the night when they led world champions Spain in the fourth quarter - this summer has been an anticlimax, ending in three defeats in the group stages in Warsaw.

Mensah-Bonsu arrived late after NBA contract negotiations

Performance director Chris Spice, who was involved with England’s rugby union team in the run-up to the 2003 World Cup triumph, will lead a root-and-branch review of the season.
Everything, he told BBC Sport, will be under discussion in a bid to determine what can be learned from a difficult summer in which the team won a single game from 12 in four tournaments.
They were already without Chicago Bulls star Luol Deng, still recovering from a stress fracture in his leg, which ended his NBA season early.

Ben Gordon raised hopes of joining the country of his birth having moved from the Bulls to the Detroit Pistons, but then opted to give all his energies to settling into his new surroundings.

“Not having Ben made a difference but in the end some of the young players stood up and made a difference and that’s a good sign for the long term.”

GB might have stolen either of the games against Spain or Serbia if the rapidly-improving Joel Freeland had not been reduced largely to the the role of spectator by a back injury.
Dan Clark, given his debut at 20, did not get on court in Poland but showed great promise in the warm-up games as a big man who can shoot the ball.

GB were hugely improved in Poland after bombing out of a tournament in Ankara, Turkey with three defeats, two of them heavy and one described by coach Chris Finch at the time as “embarrassing”.
“We were more settled after we’d had four or five days back in London before the tournament,” said Spice.

From opinions canvassed during the summer, GB’s policy of keeping an enlarged squad - 16 featured in the tournament at London’s O2 Arena, while 14 travelled to Turkey but only 12 were allowed to take part in EuroBasket - is likely to fall in sharp focus at the review on 5 October.
“From the programme’s point of view, we need to have player commitment as early as possible and not have players dipping in and out of the programme,” said Spice.
“But that’s difficult with players being the USA. We have to make everyone aware that we don’t have much time.”

It’s kind of disturbing to think the tournament is going on and we have had to come home, it doesn’t feel right. Mensah-Bonsu made the observation after EuroBasket that GB may have simply lacked experience in a tournament rated by many as the toughest in world basketball.
The other three teams in their group - Slovenia, Serbia and Spain - are all heading for the quarter-finals, which start on Thursday.

“We have to put 40 minutes together and we haven’t been able to do that in this tournament,” said Mensah-Bonsu.

“I feel we’ve been playing well for 30 minutes but if you’re up against Spain or Slovenia, they’ll play tough for 40 minutes.
“We’ve got to make sure that we pick this up straight away instead of two or three weeks into the summer.”

His words were echoed by coach Chris Finch, who said: “This [EuroBasket] will have been invaluable.
“I’ve no doubt that it will pay dividends at some point down the line to have been there now, as opposed to 2011, which is when most people thought we’d make it.”
Spice would not comment on Finch’s status but the coach clearly felt the pain of elimination as clearly as anyone with the programme.

“It’s hard to be anything but disappointed because we had chances in all the games to go through,” said Finch.

Most of the young kids [in basketball] you talk to want to play in the NBA - in rugby they all want to play for England
Chris Spice
“I don’t want to speculate on that - we just have to go about our business,” said Spice. “Finishing in the bottom four [at EuroBasket] has not helped our wild card chances.
“It was unfortunate the draw we got - all those teams from our group are heading for the last eight in Poland.”

That decision will be made in December and if GB are not to get a wild card, they will instead play in the EuroBasket 2011 qualifying tournament, the draw for which will be made early in the New Year.
GB’s performances in the last two years are likely to see them placed in the second rank of seeds in that draw.

In the meantime, six years after his part in the rugby team’s triumph, Spice will continue developing a programme that is very different to the one Martin Johnson, Jonny Wilkinson and others rode to triumph.

“We never had problems with players - they got paid a lot of money to play for their country and that’s unfortunately not the case with GB,” said Spice.

“The motivation levels are different. Most of the young kids [in basketball] you talk to want to play in the NBA - in rugby they all want to play for England.

“That’s what we’re up against. We’ve still got to build an awareness of what the Great Britain programme is all about.”

Todd Christiansen - Oakland Raider, 5 time Pro-bowl tight end and current masters track athlete set a new world record in the 6o meter high hurdles wearing Springbak Springsoles.

“As a tight end at 235 pounds I was far from the fastest player in the NFL and even farther from a track sprinter or professional soccer player of my era. This 2009 season while competing in a masters track meet, I set the world record in the 60 meter high hurdles (8.39 seconds) for my 50+ age group. I set that record with Springbak Springsoles in my spikes.” Todd Christiansen

Springsoles.co.uk have just reopened credit card payments through the very fast and secure CCNOW credit card processing system.

There have also been a number of major updates throughout the website, such as adding a view your basket link on every page and new product images. We’re confident that these changes make the website easier to navigate and more efficient.

Thanks,

Springsoles UK

As part of our continued support of juniors’ football in the UK, we are now the kit sponsors of PRJ football club from North West England.

If you would like to be considered to become a Springsoles UK sponsored club, no matter what the sport. Please get in contact with us at - Sponsorship@Springsoles.co.uk

Well there you have it, new stock now officially here! Order early to guarantee Christmas delivery. You can contact us at springsoles.co.uk@googlemail.com if you’d like to know the last delivery dates for your country.

We’re still waiting on a stock delivery and so currently UK size 7/8 Springsoles are unavailable. We’ll keep you updated with the stock situation.

We’re also very happy to announce a sale on UK size 11/12 Springbak Springsoles, while stocks last! So get in there before we run out of these too!

Thanks,

SpringsolesUK

We’ve put in yet another order of Springsoles, but they won’t be here for a good couple of weeks yet. So if you’re thinking about purchasing Springbak Springsoles, please order soon to avoid the disappointment of a temporary stock shortage.

We’ll keep you updated with stock developments.

Thanks,

Springsoles UK