We are delighted to announce our new U12 structure and the appointment of our 2 new head coaches. Our under 12s will now be split into a series of Cluster Clubs throughout Edinburgh and will operate in partnership with Active Schools. There will be a Cluster Club league which will run on the last Friday of every month at Holy Rood High School and this will give the Cluster Clubs a chance to play competitive basketball. The rationale behind the new structure is to allow us to develop more players at this age in smaller groups as the Friday night U12 sessions were a victim of their own success and were becoming overloaded! We also wanted to offer another opportunity for players to develop through playing games within the Club structure. As part of his Club Champion post Craig Nicol has been discussing the way forward with our partner Active Schools Coordinators. The Cluster Clubs will be coached by City of Edinburgh community coaches who will be supported and mentored by Craig but will be part of the Active Schools programme.
We are thrilled to announce the creation of 4 Cluster Clubs, with more to follow as the structure develops. These clubs are in addition to the after school clubs supported by the Club.
The new Cluster Clubs are as follows :
| Cluster Club | Venue | Day / Time | Active Schools Contact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portobello | Royal High Primary School | Thursday 4:30pm - 5:30pm | Paddy Dearlove paddy.dearlove@ea.edin.sch.uk |
| Leith | Leith Academy | Thursday 4:50pm - 5:30pm | Cat McCready cat.mccready@ea.edin.sch.uk |
| Castlebrae | Niddrie Mill Primary School | Tuesday 3:30pm - 4:30pm | Shirley Banks Shirley.Banks@ea.edin.sch.uk |
| Firrhill | Firrhill High School | Wednesday 5:00pm - 5:45pm | Lorna Norman lorna.norman@ea.edin.sch.uk |
The Cluster Clubs are open to all Primary 6 and Primary 7's and will start on the week beginning 7th September (with the exception of the Firrhill cluster which will start on Wednesday 16th September) , all new players should either contact the relevant Active Schools Coordinator or simply come along to the first session and sign up. Castlebrae is also open to Primary 5's.
The Cluster Clubs will compete in the City of Edinburgh Cluster League which will have games on the last Friday of each month at Holy Rood High School from 5:30pm until 7:30pm. The first set of games will be on Friday 30th October. This will be a chance for the players to put into practice what they have been learning in the cluster clubs in a fun, safe environment.
From these Cluster Clubs, players may be selected to attend our under 12 girls Academy team or under 12 boys Academy team. The Academy teams train twice a week and will represent the club in the Regional Development Leagues. Roddy Gordon has been appointed to the post of U12 boys Academy coach and Lorna Norman will lead on the girls' side. Roddy was formerly our under 14 boys coach and is an under 12 Scotland boys coach so he was a perfect match for this post as he knows what level the players need to be working at to progress to national level and to the next age group. We are delighted to welcome Lorna to the Club coaching team, she is a familiar face in Scottish basketball, she has coached at St Mirren, Polonia and East Lothian Peregrines as well as various national coaching positions. In her day job she is an Active Schools Co-ordinator where she is involved in coaching basketball to the Firrhill cluster primaries. She is also the assistant coach at the City of Edinburgh Council Sports Academy. As well as heading up our U12 girls Academy team Lorna will be working with Emma Brady at U14 girls thereby assisting in the transition from Under 12s to Under 14s. She will also be working with the Cadette Women's Division 2 team.
We are very excited about this new stage in the Club's development and we wish Roddy and Lorna the best of luck in their new posts.
The Academy teams will train as follows (all sessions at Holy Rood High School and are by invitation only) :
- Tuesday 5:30pm - 7pm U12 boys
- Thursday 5pm - 6:30pm U12 girls
- Friday (apart from the last Friday of every month) 5:30pm until 7:30pm both boys and girls but coached separately at each end of the hall.
