This week Head Coach Chris FINCH will lead his Great Britain team in two of their biggest games EVER. They are both against Switzerland. I wanted to write an article about Chris whom I have known for years. In fact I can remember him in his playing days.

I have to tell you that when I heard the news that Pete was seriously ill I was absolutely devastated. Pete is someone who you thought would always be there. This was my presentation at the funeral of my friend Pete Jacques on the 28 April 2010.

Last summer both the Great Britain Mens and Womens teams qualified for the top tier of European Basketball by advancing to Eurobasket A after a series of hard fought games. Both teams went unbeaten through the summer. Plans are well on the way for this summer's series of games which will see Chris Finch's Great Britain Men taking on the Czech Republic, Bosnia and Israel, while GB Women, under Head Coach Mark Clark, will face Ukraine, Lithuania, Germany and Israel.

Back in the day, I published a magazine called SHOOTING HOOPS and featured news and information from around the BBL. In issue number I, I included one of my favourite young British players Yorick Williams. In this special feature with some new photos - I want to give you a chance to hear again what he had to say.

So it is 6am on Wednesday 6 February and the alarm goes off. Today I am at the University of Birmingham for a 4-team tournament plus a Women’s University game.

I do not suppose that those who planned the Paralympic World Cup all those years ago realized exactly what they were starting off, or perhaps they had.

This is a copy of an e-mail sent out to all the staff at BBC 2002 Commonwealth Games Radio

As someone who has been in the mainstream media for many many years, I have been very critical of the some programmes which purported to be for the ethnic communities. Some have argued that there should be no need for specialist programmes but in my opinion, the mainstream media does not do the ethnic communities justice. The programmes tend to be about them and not for them. They fail to cover the full spectrum of ethnic life in the UK and as a result leave most thinking viewers unsatisfied.

So there I am working at The Bay radio station in Lancaster when the phone rings and reception puts it through to the studio and tell me that it's Mark Sharman from Sky Sports. Immediately I think it's someone taking the micky, so I answer, yea this is Mike. A voice at the other end says "this is Mark Sharman from Sky Sports, we're doing some live basketball games and I'm told you're the man to talk to for the commentary".