The British Basketball Federation (BBF) last year announced changes to the annual competitions held between the Home Country Associations to help boost Great Britain’s chances of success at the FIBA European Youth Championships.
From this year, the three Home Nations Invitational Tournaments will all take place in the summer months in the realigned age categories of Under-14, Under-15 and Under-17.
The aim is to identify players earlier and give coaches the opportunity to work with them over a longer period before feeding them through to GB level, while removing calendar clashes with the domestic seasons in each country.
“I’m really happy to be collaborating once again with Basketball England, basketballscotland and Basketball Wales. The repositioned tournament schedule will provide a brilliant opportunity to see some of the best youth talent we have in Britain and give GB coaches a fantastic opportunity to see players a year before they reach the top of their age group for GB teams.”
“I’m really looking forward to a great summer of youth basketball and fully support the strategic adjustments to the Home Nations events, designed to enhance our GB junior teams' preparation and performance.
“Shifting all the competitions to summer and reconfiguring the age groups allows us crucial extra time to develop and fine tune our athletes’ skills. This alignment with the FIBA European Youth Championship cycles is a game-changer.”
“We welcome these age changes to support the GB and Home Nations Youth Pathway. Having the tournaments in the summer will enable more preparation and hopefully entice some of our European neighbours to participate. We look forward to hosting the U14 event in Scotland.”
“We’re looking forward to working with the BBF and our partners in England and Scotland to create a GB and Home Nations Youth Pathway that everyone buys into. Giving the GB teams the best chance of performing well at the FIBA European Youth Championships has to be a priority.”
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