This article is from page 28 of the 2007-11-20 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 28 JPG
THE countdown is on for underage basketball in north Clare with just three days to go to the throw-in for this year’s Lorcan O’Connor Cup.
In the three short years since the reformation of basketball in Ennistymon, the Clare Cascaders have quickly grown to a club of more than 100 young boys and girls.
‘The numbers have been increasing every year. The season starts in the first week of September and keeps go- ing on to Easter so we are very very busy,’ said Stephen Leigh of the club. “It’s a huge commitment, both from the players and the coaches, but it is going really well. Our under-12s are
undefeated at the moment and our boys teams beat the Limerick Lions in every age group when they came up to Ennistymon earlier this month.”
One of the highlights of the year is the Lorcan O’Connor Memorial Cup, which begins this Friday. This competition, organised in the mem- ory of one of the true greats of En- nistymon basketball, pits under-12s teams from within the club against each other with the final held in late December.
‘That was the highlight of our year last year. The kids are really looking forward to it. It’s a mixed under-12s tournament and is great success,” added Mr Leigh.
“We also have a very good group of
transition-year students. We wanted them to get involved, not just as play- ers, but also as coaches and referees. So five of them went off and did the Basketball Ireland coaching course and have started to coach at under- age level and in the schools.
“It’s about getting a club structure going. These kids are taking on more and more for themselves. They are showing a great interest and this shows their commitment to the club and to basketball.”
“We have six coaches and 10 peo- ple on the committee. We get fan- tastic commitment from all of them. The workload is shared and we get a lot of satisfaction out of it.”
The success of the club has also
seen the re-instigation of mini-bas- ketball for kids under the age of 10 on Saturday mornings. The sport has also spread into the local schools, with the CBS in Ennistymon seeing off a number of established basket- ball schools to win their way through to the Munster level of the Basketball Ireland U-19 league last week.
If anyone is interesting in forming a new basketball club in Clare, contact Michael O’Mahony from Basketball Ireland on 086-8112955.