On Sunday 13^th May the Bristol Flyers B Under 13’s made the trip to Paignton to take part in the first of six Regional Summer League tournaments. With the Flyers entering two teams, ‘A’ and ‘B’ made up of experienced and younger players, it was a great opportunity for everybody to experience playing against other local teams in a real game environment. The games would be two halves each lasting 10 minutes.

The first game saw the Flyers take on the Torbay Tigers. The game started well for the Flyers and the score remained tight throughout the first half. Scores from Ben Morris, Tommy Moore and Jake Garman who was shooting well from the free throw line contributed to the Flyers points. However, the Flyers allowed Torbay to score too many points from unchallenged rebounds which kept them in the game. The first half finished with the Flyers up 16 – 14.

In the second half the Flyers began to struggle and Torbay found their form, poor defending from the Flyers allowed Torbay to open a point’s gap which the Flyers could not close. Notable performances this half came from Tommy Moore, Ben Morris and Seb Hodge who enjoyed a lot of ball possession. The game ended with Flyers losing 23 – 40.

The second game saw the Flyers take on the Swindon Sonics. The Flyers started this game well and were working well, Tommy Moore, Ben Morris and Jake Garman continued to add the majority of the Flyers points, but Nathan Herbert also got on the score sheet. The Flyers continued to make too many errors which allowed Swindon to take a narrow first half lead of 22 – 20.

In the second half the Flyers began to struggle as they did against Torbay and Swindon took full advantage opening a point’s gap. The Flyers did stage a comeback but the errors made throughout the game meant Swindon scored enough to hold on and win the game 40 – 34.

The final game saw the Flyers take on the Stroud Sharks. Jake Garman opened the scoring but had to leave the court with a knee injury. Soon after Ben Morris took a heavy tumble and also had to leave the court. Stroud were working well as a team and took control of the game. Jamie Conway added to the points but Stroud ended the first half with a 16 – 4 advantage.

Both Jake Garman and Ben Morris recovered and returned to the game; however this was not enough to stop Stroud who were now playing extremely well. With Stroud in control Coach Gear gave an opportunity for the less experienced players and Oren Henry, Brandon Hatt, Mikolaj Makowski and Zai Sim all enjoyed a long spell out on the court. The game ended with the Flyers going down 8 – 36.

Coach of the Under 13′s Bristol B team Rodney Gear was happy with the effort from all the players “it was great to see some of the less experienced players get a taste of true competitive basketball. This is something they need at this stage in their basketball development. Hopefully after this they will go away and work on the fundamentals that are required to play within a more structured set up. The attitude throughout the tournament was great from all the players and I think we will see improvments when they play again on the 2nd June”.

Bristol Flyers B Under 13’s Team: Jake Garman, Ben Morris, Seb Hodge, Oren Henry, Jamie Conway, Brandon Hatt, Nathan Herbert, Zai Sim, Mikolaj Makowski, Tommy Moore.

The next tournament date for Flyers B is June 2^nd.

The Bristol Academy Flyers will be holding their annual presentation night on Saturday 26th May at 5pm.

The event is a great opportunity for members of the club to get together and celebrate the acheivements of individuals and teams over the course of the season.

After the presentation night the Matt Bromley Memorial game will take place making the 26th May an even more exciting day in the Flyers calendar. This game will have a fun match up between FLyers Allstars and Trowbridge Allstars as well as a 3 point contest and dunk competition.

These are two great events in the Flyers year and we hope to see as many of you there as possible!

Inter County Under 15 Tournament

On the 21^st April a team representing Avon County headed off to Paignton to take part in a regional Inter County tournament. The team of 10 was made up of players from Bristol Academy Flyers and Bristol Storm with the Flyers contributing 6 players. Representing the Flyers were Louis Morris, Dominic Pearcy, Taylor Samuels, George Pykov, Jake Notice and Bruce Adjei. With the team being coached by ex Flyers senior player Tom Hutchinson the club was well represented.

The first game saw Avon take on Gloucestershire. Flyers players made a huge contribution with key plays coming from Taylor Samuels with a 2 point buzzer beater and a great block from Bruce Adjei. Although Avon fought hard, Gloucestershire were the stronger side and went on to win 31 – 24.

In the second game Avon faced Dorset. This was a close game with the lead changing on a number of occasions. Key plays came from Dominic Pearcy with several interceptions and scores, points also came from Jake Notice, Taylor Samuels and Bruce Adjei with a 3 pointer. Contributions from George Pykov and Louis Morris ensured that Avon went on to win the game 41 – 32.

With one win and a loss this set up a semi-final match against Devon. This turned out to be a very close game with Avon working hard and pushing Devon all the way. In the final seconds of the game with Avon down by one point Dominic Pearcy intercepted the ball and drove to the basket, with what seemed an almost certain scoring opportunity he was fouled, however, instead of a free throw Avon got to inbound the ball from the side line and the final buzzer sounded. Devon held on to win the game 23 – 22.

Although it was a disappointing end to the tournament, the Avon team went away with their heads held high following a fine display in all three games. The Flyers players made a massive contribution and were a credit to the club.

Avon Team: Keenan Lawrence, Jake Notice, Niall Murphy, Dominic Pearcy, Louis Morris, Bruce Adjei,

Taylor Samuels, George Pykov, Tashon Wallace-Hall, Jamal Douglas.

The Bristol Academy Flyers will be hosting their annual June Half Term  basketball camp on Wednesday 6th, Thursday 7th and Friday 8th June.

Flyers players and community coaches Davis Bowne and Doug McLaughlin-Williams will be leading the 3 days which are promising to be full of fun and learning about the sport.

The camp will be from 9am till 3pm for the three days and it is aimed for boys and girls aged 8 to 14. The cost be £15 per day or £30 for all three days.

For further information and to book a place please contact Amy Gillespie on 0117 915 3362 or email amy.gillespie@filton.ac.uk

Flyers season came to end this Saturday after losing to Derby Trailblazers 74-55 in the Division 1 playoff semi-final held at Manchester’s Amaechi centre.

Blazers’ big left-hander Troy Whittington punished Flyers with 23 points, 15 rebounds and he was 3 blocks shy of a triple-double in a dominant offensive and defensive performance.

Derby came out of the blocks the hungrier team and built a 14-point lead in the second quarter before a 9-2 Flyers’ run to close the first half saw the teams separated by seven points (32-25) heading into the locker rooms.

Bristol kept chipping away in the third and when Tyrone Treasure hit a free throw with a minute left in the period, Flyers led 42-41 heading into the fourth. It was their first lead since the opening quarter.

Things started to fall apart in the fourth for Flyers though, as Martyn Gayle’s basket to open the period gave his club a lead they wouldn’t lose. After scoring a mere 9 points in the third, Blazers scored 33 in the fourth to Flyers’ 13 and sealed the 19-point win.

American forward Davis Bowne had 10 points and 15 rebounds for Bristol, but he struggled with his 5 of 12 shooting from the floor thanks largely to the defensive presence of Whittington. Enrique Garcia (14 points) and Doug McLaughlin-Williams (13 points) also hit double figures but got into foul trouble. McLaughlin-Williams’ minutes were limited after picking up his fourth foul in the third period. Derby guards Rishi Kakad and Martyn Gayle hit 17 and 16 points respectively supporting Whittington.

Flyers Coach Andreas Kapoulas even though disappointed with the Flyers elimination from the playoff final, was first to congratulate his players for another very successful basketball season:

‘We went to the playoff semi-Final with the best preparation possible but on the day we were not able to take control when needed. The coaching staff however is very proud of our players. Despite getting on foul trouble and going down early with double-digit deficit, we found a way to come back and go up by 1 at the end of the third period. The fourth period unfortunately belonged to Derby.’

The Greek Coach added:

‘This season the Flyers showed tremendous consistency and even though we did not capture any silverware, no one can argue about the success, the hard work and determination of our players. Getting to the Cup Final in January, progressing to the Trophy Final in February, being one game away from winning the league title and making it to the fourth playoff final four in 5 years are just simply great achievements. Myself and my assistant coach Nick Burns would like to thank all our players and of course our supporters for this great season. In the end, enjoying the chase is more important than the catch because you can’t guarantee the catch. We enjoyed a great year with our players and the memories will definitely stay with us forever.’

The Bristol Academy Flyers will be aiming to capture the Division 1 Playoff championship for the first time in their club history as the season is coming to an end this weekend in Manchester. Flyers are facing Derby Trailblazers in the mens second semi-final which is scheduled to tip off at 6pm at the Amaechi centre. The winner will progress to Sunday’s Playoff Final to face the winner of the 1^st semi-final between London Leopards and Leicester warriors.

This is the Flyers fourth trip in the Div 1 Playoff Final Four in their five years in the top flight of English basketball. All four times the Bristol side has been unsuccessful in securing a place in the Final the following day and Coach Andreas Kapoulas thinks his team is ready for the next step:

‘We have had a very competitive season this year and I am really pleased to see us secure a place in the last weekend of the season. We led the league for most of the year and got the opportunity to play in the Cup and Trophy Finals. Unfortunately we have been 2^nd best so far in all competitions. However, we are determined to finish the season on a high and I think we have the experience and quality to be playing in the championship game on Sunday.’

The Flyers Coach spoke about Saturday’s opposition:

‘Derby are a very good basketball club and as always they will be a very dangerous opponent. Both teams know each other pretty well especially as we played recently in the league at the end of March but also in the Trophy Final at the end of February. They have already won one title so far and I am certain they will be eager to go through to Sunday’s game. They have depth, experience and scoring firepower good enough to beat anyone in the league.’

Kapoulas highlighted defense as the key factor for the Flyers success this weekend:

‘For us to secure a place in the final and a championship title, we need to be at our best on the defensive end. We proved we have the ability to do this during the course of the season. Even though we were the league runner ups, we were the best defensive team in the league keeping our opponents to 67 points per game and I think a lot of credit has to go to our players for their work ethic and mindset.  We are really proud about our defensive focus and I think it can really be a separation factor for us this weekend.’

Flyers US imports Davis Bowne and Doug McLaughlin-Williams have been with the Club in two Playoff Final Fours and will be hoping that it’s third time lucky for the West country side.

‘Playing for the Playoff championship in the last weekend of the season is a great feeling. It’s something that we set as an aim at the start of the year and now we have an opportunity to achieve something that we have never done before’, said Flyers forward Davis Bowne.

Doug McLaughlin-Williams went on to add: ‘We have learned a lot from our previous appearances in the Final Fours and we feel ready as a group to perform at our best. All four teams have done very well to get to this weekend but that’s not enough for us. We have one thing in our mind and that’s nothing else other than the Playoff championship title.’

Bristol Academy Flyers Under 16′s point guard Joe Turner represented the South West APC 1998′s in Prague over the Easter break, where the team managed to finish 4th in the 16 team Easter Eurobasket Tournament. They played a host of teams from different nations including Serbia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic. Joe played point guard for the APC team in all the games and performed well throughout the tournament. He found the standard high and felt that playing against such strong opposition was only going to benefit his development ” It was a great experience playing basketball in Prague. One of our main players got injured early on in the tournament so it was even tougher for us but we all played hard and are pleased with 4th place”.

Joe’s statistics from the tournament:

The team’s results:

 Bristol Academy Flyers Head of Junior Development Guy Coles feels these experiences abroad are invaluable ” The South West APC does an excellent job of offering opoprtunities such as the one Joe experienced over Easter. It would be good to take  a club team over to these tournaments but by having regional players playing together it not only gets different players on the same team, it also means our players are coached by someone different as well. Hopefully Joe will take his experience in Prague and use it for the upcoming season in National League Under 16′s”.

South Gloucestershie and Stroud College’s Christian Duncan has made it all the way to the final of the Adidas UK Elite squad. Christian is a 1st Year member of the college’s Basketball Academy and has worked hard throughout the season with this accolade showing that the effort has paid off. Now as part of the squad he will be travelling to Paris to play in the Eurochallenge Cadet tournament on the 26th May, which attracts some of the best club teams in Europe at the event. He will stay there for the 2 day tournament playing with and against some of the top Under 18 players around. He is looking forward to the experience ” obviously I was proud to get asked to go on this trip and it will be a great experience, and good for my basketball development. There are National team players on our squad so the standard of comeptition is very high. Hopefully as an individual I can play well but more importantly it will be good if as a team we can compete with the European club teams who will be at the tournament”.

This past week the Bristol Academy Flyers held their third half term camp of the year.  With it being the Easter break the numbers were down from the last camp, but still was a good showing of quality players from the Southwest.  There were on average 25 players each day, and the majority attended all three days.  The coaching staff was very pleased with the improvement that was made in such a short period of time.  The players continue to improve over the course of the year and the importance of fundamentals was again stressed at the camp. 

 Each player took part in different dribbling, passing, shooting and layup drills during the morning session.  After lunch the camp comprised of more team orientated games, including 1 on 1, 3 on 3, and 5 on 5 matches to finish each day.  The players really benefitted from having a good mixture of community coaches and coaching qualified academy players. The lead coach for the camp, the American professional player Davis Bowne was really pleased with the effort of the kids throughout the camp.

The Bristol Academy Flyers Liaison Office Amy Gillespie produced some feedback forms for the players to fill in with their thoughts of the camp experience. There were some really positive comments such as

‘Wicked. Awesome Boom, Boom, Boom- Best Camp Ever!

‘First time here & children Loved it!’

‘Thank you for a fantastic few days!’

 The Bristol Academy Flyers are hoping that the participates went away with a little more knowledge of the game and that they will continue to work hard at home.  The Flyers look forward to the final Half term camp to take place on June 6, 7, and 8th. 

 If you would like information on this camp or other opportunities to play, please get in touch with Davis Bowne, davis.bowne@filton.ac.uk.

The 2nd versus 7th playoff quarter-final match-up favours the higher seed in most cases but in Saturday’s Bristol Academy Flyers-Reading Rockets game, predicting the winner would be very difficult.

The teams have split the league series with a win each at home and as Flyers’ assistant coach Nick Burns admits, don’t judge Rockets by their number 7 seed:

“Reading in no way look like a 7th place team and they will definitely be a tough match up,” he said. “Our intensity in training has been excellent and with coach K [Andreas Kapoulas] returning refreshed from his Italian jaunt to inject his unique brand of motivational psychology, I am sure that we will be fired up on Saturday.”

 Kapoulas recently returned from Italy as part of his other coaching duties with England’s Under 16 Men. England finished a promising 3-4 in the Italian tournament where they were playing teams a year older than them as they continue their European Championship preparation. 

“It is great to be back to join the team preparations for the playoff quarter-final,” said Kapoulas. “The team is going into the game against Reading with great momentum having won the last five league fixtures.”

Kapoulas continued by giving praise the to Rockets and their coach: “Coach Samit Nuruzade is one of the league’s best and has led his team to a playoff spot despite the crucial injuries and personnel changes at the first part of the season. As they were the last team to beat us in early March I am certain Rockets will be coming to the game ready for a battle. However we will be ready for them as a lot of things have changed with our group over the last few weeks. We are very determined and we will give everything we have to make it to the Playoff Final Four for the fourth time in our five year history in Division 1.”

Nuruzade is proud of his team, who by most accounts are very young compared to previous Rockets’ squads, and the fact they made the post-season with their injury issues:

“I am pleased with how we have done this season because we have had a lot to contend with, but we have done so very well to come out of the 24 games with a positive record. To think we were only a handful of points away from third place is in fact a good achievement for us,” he said.

“Going into Saturday’s game with that in mind and the fact we have beaten Bristol recently is good for us in terms of confidence and this week is about making sure we get our preparation spot on and making some tweaks and additions on the practice floor,” he continued.

In Davis Bowne and Ryan Lohfink, Flyers and Rockets have two Americans who play a similar position and have been with their respective clubs for several seasons. Bowne has been with Flyers since the 09/10 season and Lohfink has been a Rocket since 08/09.

“I feel we have done a really good job of competing and getting in position where we can go into any game feeling that we can win it and I think it is important that we take this confidence into Saturday’s game against Bristol,” said Lohfink. “It has been a different season for me because I have had to take a lead role in scoring and rebounding and helping our younger players, but it is something which I feel has pushed my leadership skills to another level.”

Bowne said, “This season we have been so very close to winning all competitions (Cup, Trophy, League) but every time the title has escaped us. The opportunity to finish the season by getting to a third consecutive playoff final four and the first ever playoff final is something that all players are really excited for. We will do our best to make this a reality.”