Basketball champions have the 'Bulldog' spirit (From Times Series)

Basketball champions have the 'Bulldog' spirit

7:10pm Wednesday 17th March 2010 in

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Barnet Bulldogs Basketball Club U18s saw off Solent 97-73 to become champions of the Southern England Conference. In a very tight encounter, the Bulldogs eventually produced the form that has seen them win 14 straight games in a row.

They surged ahead in the last quarter of the game, with impressive displays by all members of the team.

However, special mention must be made of captain Ekow Nottinson Nyaaku and Tayo Oyefuse, who both notched 19 points each. Chuck Dun hit 17, while point guard Prince Lartey scored 13. Kaden Gayle was also in fine form, hitting two massive three-point shots which gave the Bulldogs the impetus to increase their lead in the second half.

The team, which is mainly made up of players who could also represent the club at the under 16 level, have been expertly led by coach Neville Polson, who, at 21, is the youngest National League head coach in the country.

Neville was on a college basketball scholarship in America before a serious ankle injury curtailed his playing career two years ago.

The win against Solent ensured the club finished just above a very strong Oxford Brookes team, who had previously gone two years undefeated. The Bulldogs will now go through to the first stage of the national play-offs with a home game against either Cornwall Cougars or Cardiff Celts from the South West Conference.

The Bulldogs were formed 14 years ago by a group of enthusiastic parents who recognised basketball was a great medium to improve confidence, self-esteem and discipline among their children. Over the years, the club have integrated these values into all aspects of their structure and this has seen them engage over 30,000 young people in a combination of club, community and schools development initiatives. Three years ago the club also launched their Young Leaders and Mentors Academy. This project used basketball as a means of improving communication, social and life skills among their players. Because of the difference this made to their members, many of who were underachieving in all aspects of their life, the project attracted the patronage and support of legendary NBA player Shaquille O’Neal and his former college coach from Louisiana State University, Dale Brown. Coach Brown also agreed to become the Bulldogs' honorary life president and has come to Barnet to run a special clinic for the club.

Having these prestigious basketball legends associated with the club has enabled the Bulldogs to develop strategic partnerships with the United States Basketball Academy (USBA) and the United States Sports Academy (USSA). The USBA holds international high-performance camps every summer and a number of Bulldogs players are allowed to take part. Last year the club's players trained alongside the Chinese Red Army Team, which has four members of the Chinese Team that played in the Beijing Olympics. These camps have provided exposure for Bulldogs players to high schools and colleges in the USA and allowed the club to develop a partnership with International Experience, who are a student exchange company. The link with the USBA has also seen a number of top NCAA Division One University Coaches coming to Barnet to provide clinics and coaching for Bulldogs Teams.

Education is an essential component of the Bulldogs structure and the club has designed its youth development programme in partnership with the United States Sports Academy, who are America’s only University of Sport. This commitment to learning has seen over 80% of the young people who have represented the club go on to to study at Further and Higher education institutions in this country and abroad. And as part of the partnership with International Experience a total of 14 Bulldogs players have attended high schools in America. The first student to participate in this initiative was Ovie Soko, a former student at Mill Hill County, who won a full scholarship to the University of Alabama Birmingham in August last year. Ovie, who had been with the Bulldogs since he was nine years of age, has also been invited to train with the England Under 20 squad this summer.

Another former player is Ishmael Fontaine, who has recently signed professionally for Milton Keynes Lions in the British BBL League, Ishmael came to the Bulldogs as part of the Friday night community development program and went on to represent the club at Under 16, Under 18 and senior level before turning professional. In 2004, Tom Christie, a student at Ashmole School, attended the Bulldogs camp in Spain and Tom, who was playing for our under 16s at the time, received a two-year scholarship to attend school in Madrid and play for Estudiantes of Madrid, who are one of Spain’s top professional Clubs. Tom spent two years at school in the Spanish capital and regularly played against the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona. Tom then returned to England to attend Cambridge University and is now an investment banker in Dubai. The club also helped Daniel Clark, who at the time played for Ware Rebels, to also receive a scholarship to Estudiantes. Daniel completed his education in Madrid and signed a full professional contract for Estudiantes. The Bulldogs have always targeted the most deprived areas of the borough in which to work and have engaged many young people who were at risk of exclusion. To deliver these programs the club developed successful partnerships with the police and Barnet Council in providing a range of diversionary activities. In recent years their Friday night program at Burnt Oak Leisure Centre was recognised as helping to reduce street crime amongst young people in Burnt Oak by over 22% .

Over the last six years the club has received funding that has enabled then to invest over £150,000 into schools development. These initiatives, which have been supported by groups such as The Milly Apthorp Charitable Trust and the Safer Communities, has seen the Bulldogs provide fee curriculum time coaching in over 14 secondary schools and 34 junior schools in the borough. The club recently held its 6th Annual Junior School Tournament, this scheme provides junior schools in the Borough with eight weeks of free curriculum time coaching aimed at Year six students. Each school then competes in a tournament for the Bulldogs Trophy, this year Bell Lane Junior School beat Summerside Junior School in the final.

The Bulldogs are run on a voluntary basis and like most sports clubs they rely totally on grants and sponsorship to keep going. Over the last 12 months the club's funding has been cut by over 60%. This has meant the successful under 18 squad has been unable to have regular training sessions on their own, having to train alongside other young people who attend the clubs community development programmes. They have also had to train in local parks, sometimes in the dark and often in the rain because the cost of hiring suitable sports facilities in the borough are either too expensive or not available. This makes the achievements of the under 18 squad this season even more remarkable and begs the question of how good could they be if they were able to train on their own on a regular basis.

The club have always been, and always will be, focused on helping young people achieve their potential. The club works in partnership with players, parents and often schools in helping them achieve this potential, not just as athletes but as students and as future leaders within their community. The club is built on a solid foundation of trust, respect and discipline, therefore players know that if they display any bad attitude in training, in matches or even at home then they are not allowed to represent the club. Players also know that if they do not focus fully on their academic progress then they will also be benched.