Karl Brown In The Community

So it is just after lunchtime on Saturday the 4th of July and I am on my way to Leicester for this event. It is glorious weather and has been for the last week. Following the instructions of the Sat Nav I am taken right to the venue and arrive to find the England U16 Women taking on Israel U16 Women.

It was a great game and really competitive. The teams had played the previous evening and the Israelis had run out winners but this afternoon it would be England who would get the victory.

It was not all that easy and Head Coach Karen Burton could be heard on the other side of the arena giving her team hell when thing weren’t going well. Perhaps the stand out player was Israel number 10 Maya Madara who was everywhere.

Next up would be England U16 Men taking on Holland U16 Men and what an opening we had to this game. England had a glorious start with former Sheffield star Devon Van Oostrum running things and John Stewart also of Sheffield finishing at the other end.

This game looked like it was going to be all over by the end of the first but Holland Head Coach Martin Scheltes eventually got his team going.

This was a truly wonderful game and if these guys continue to develop then the future of Great Britain Basketball is assured. Great dunks, awesome rejections, stiffling defence and great ball movement on offence. Now that’s what I’m talking about.

It must have been an interesting afternoon for the Van Oostrum family who hail originally from Holland but who were supporting their son Devon who was the star for England and his colleagues. Back in the day, Duco Van Oostrum went head to head with the Dutch Head Coach Martin Scheltes.

I bet they had some great conversations over this weekend.

And so to the All Star game featuring the Karl Brown ‘In the Community’ Select versus The Steve Bucknall ‘Essential Skills’ Select. When I saw the list of players who had agreed to take part I knew this was going to be something special. In no particular order there would be Yorick Williams, Rob Paternostro, Martin Ford, Karl Brown, Shawn Jamison, Steve Bucknall, Julius Joseph, Vince Macaulay, Peter Scantlebury, the Baker Boys and loads more.

It was truly fantastic to see these guys turning up and giving their time to help raise money for the Special Olympics 2009. The game was great fun as, in my opinion, Yorick Williams, Rob Paternostro and Daniel Sandell stole the show. In the end, the KB in the Community Team would run out comfortable winners. But this was not about winners or losers, this was about total enjoyment and without doubt it delivered.

Congratulations must go to everyone involved in making this a tremendous event and a truly awesome basketball weekend.