Our first ever Game of the Week feature focuses on Saturday's National Cup tie between Rossendale Raptors and Warrington Wolves.
Raptors are brand new to the EBL, having cut their teeth in the Manchester Area Basketball League and having been in existence since 1962. They have experienced a major turnaround in fortunes in recent times having gone from being on the brink of extinction to looking forward to their first season as a National League club in a much more comfortable financial position. The change in fortunes is thanks in large part to recently crowned England Basketball Volunteer Administrator of the Year, Ken Masser, who took over as club chairman when they were struggling to survive and has been instrumental in attracting £25,000 to the club through funding grants and sponsorship; including the free design and provision of an impressive club website - http://www.rossendaleraptors.co.uk/.
Under Ken's stewardship the club has also achieved Clubmark accreditation, with a thriving junior section of over 50 members and a bright future ahead of them. He commented: "We are excited to start our first ever National League season in what is the clubs 50th season; and we are delighted to welcome Warrington to Rossendale. Our fans and the local community are right behind the team and we hope to put on a good show both on and off the court."
Raptors have an experienced coaching staff including Jim Fry and John Allerston and are able to field a number of players with previous National League experience such as Aitor Estrada and Mark Cowell. Head coach Fry feels good about the club's prospects this season: "Thanks to our Chairman we know the gameday will be well organised. We're also confident in our team and believe we have a good blend of youth and experience. We've added some new faces to the nucleus of last season's team, who are all local lads who have played together for a long time. We know what a good team Warrington are, but we're confident in our guys and I'm sure the team will put in a good performance and progress to be one of the best teams in Division 4."
Wolves themselves have only been an EBL club for one season after having been founded in 2010 thanks to funding from Andrew Donaldson from Big Storage. With player/coach Delme Herriman at the helm, a veteran of 77 England caps, they took Division 4 North by storm to finish with a 21-3 record and top the standings. They progressed to the Division 4 Playoff Final where they were tied with Canary Wharf Baltic Staff in the final minute before falling to a 71-68 loss.
For the 2011/12 season Wolves will be in EBL Division 3 North and Herriman has been on the recruiting trail, securing the notable signings of Steve Boonham, Ambokile Bell (both ex-Manchester Magic) and Usman Baba (who has D2 experience with Glyndwr Nets).
With these new additions, Herriman hopes to be pushing for a second consecutive promotion by season's end: "We have upgraded our team considerably. In total I have 7 new players and a squad of 17 to choose from for any game. I have retained the majority of our squad from last season.
"Everyone is hungry and I have them focused on trying to win another championship and helping to grow this new basketball club. We are all really excited to get things going this year and play some exciting basketball. Our preseason results included a good win against local rivals Manchester Magic as well as a tough basketball lesson from Division 1 new boys Bradford Dragons.
"We look forward to playing Rossendale. They are a new team in Division 4 who we don't really know much about, but it will be a fantastic game!"
The action tips off at 5:15pm at Haslingden Sports Centre (BB4 4DN) on Saturday and the winners of the tie will be rewarded with a second round trip to last year's Division 1 Playoff and National Trophy runner's up Leeds Carnegie.
http://www.englandbasketball.co.uk/news/default.aspx?newsid=3690