Win at football, lose at basketball.

It was a jaunt up the A1 for Sassco against the YM Thunder, again. This time it was slightly ahead, with Ashington being the venue. This was actually part of a major event by Koast Radio, but by the time we arrived, it was all but over. Had we been there earlier, we’d have been live on the radio, but I’m not sure it would have been ideal, as the “F” word was used liberally.

We requested a football game first and were resplendent in our red shirts, but the opponents looked like they’d been dragged off the streets. I was told that their kit man was absent, so there’s the excuse. Needless to say, I banned all photography of the game to be published, as it was Sassco Information Control again.

We dominated the football, which was played in the small basketball court on hard surface. However, the opponents bagged the first goal. Sassco soon went 2-1 ahead, before dominating and conceding again. Muers was attempting to smash the restaurant window, the caravans’ roof, and lose the only working Sassco ball I have left, by booting it hard into the North Sea.

Nevertheless, faith was restored when Lewis (Louie) Muir scored to make it 3-2, before with hit again to make it 4-2. John Harper, Dave Smith and Mark Muers scored the other goals. Cameron Thompson made an appearance in goal, in the second half.

Basketball was a bit different. Only highlights were a 3 pointer from Muers, then 2 and 1 from Dave Smith. The rest of the inevitable defeat was spent slagging off the opponents.

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Muers wipes out a pre-teen.

We all made the long voyage into the heart of Blyth, without any hiccups. The venue was actually an oasis of a basketball court in the midst of mounds of dog shit, boarded up windows and God knows how many feral kids (most probably spawned by Muers). It was time warp into another world. Even the graffiti was a bit out of date: “Ugandan Asians – out! out! out!”. The Sassco Lightning team was making it’s first appearance since August 2012, and the team was (as usual) changed being a regionally renowned touring team. This time it was John Harper (son of Tash), Lewis Muir and Nathan Malloy, along with myself (Davinder Sangha), Rikki Lear and Mark Muers. Simon Mulvaney was unable to make it when he discovered that his passport had expired and wouldn’t take him North of Gosforth.

As expected, the team came away with a heavy defeat in around thirty minutes of pretending to be “in the hood”. The basketball result was 40-5, with Malloy getting two points and Muers hitting a three pointed and then proceeding to do f**k all for the rest of the game. I wasn’t successful and getting Billy Harper to squeeze on an XXL top to knock some balls about in the last five minutes.

Harper’s adopted son; Muers, fared no better in the following football game, when the opponents (populated with several feral ringers) raced into a 3-0 lead. Sassco soon pulled it back and went ahead 5-3, before losing interest along with any form of lighting to lose around 8-5. I just used the opportunity to abuse Muers again as I hadn’t been able to do that since our Summer 2012 11-a-side friendly against Rutherford DFC. Ironically, his best shot wiped out one of the feral kids, which was probably the only significant talking point.

Apparently, everyone made it out and back into a civilised land.

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Just pass to Jason.

It was quite simple; just pass to Jason Stuart, who netted the majority of our points. It was a bit like Messi playing for Sassco 11-a-side.

However, it was only Sangha and Stuart who remained from the last side slaughtered by the Lithuanians. Liam Allen, Si Mulvaney, Thomas Bell and Matty Downs were the other members of the team in Sassco’s fourth game played since they formed. It was the best performance to date, as Stuart led the team, but ironically, Liam Allen, the smallest member of the side, netted the response to going three points down, with Sassco’s opening two points.

A full video of this game is shown below:

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Ian Taylor shows potential.

Finally, we managed to get the game going at Gateshead Stadium (indoors obviously). We were missing a fair few players. Karl (had his young one), Simpson (football), Kon (mysterious liaison) and Simon Maw (disgrace).

We were up against the Lithuanian Olympic Basketball Team led by a bunch of seven footers. Ian Taylor managed to rope in two streetwise basketball kids who scored almost all our points, but the reverse was that we angered the Lithuanians into scoring two many goals (or points, or whatever they’re called).

Lasting image is Ian Taylor’s hand signals with the ball and Connor Hopwood jumping with a seven footer.

We’re still looking at getting some more basketball league games completed in venues in Sunderland, Gateshead, Durham, Newcastle and probably Blyth.

Alan Hoyle’s busy with the Olympics, so games will be sorted soon after.

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Typical of the “Ant Hill Mob” in Emu’s car to ignore the fact that they game was played in a different venue. No matter, they arrived in good time, Emu swigging out of a can. We actually struggled to get the players in, surprisingly, as playing basketball is absolutely fantastic and I’d recommend anyone having a game.

The game kicked off (or is it tipped off?) and we were on the back foot. Last year, I opened the scoring with a three-pointer, but this time, it was Knightflyers who raced into the lead. We just about managed to level it when Macca scored two off the belt.

The game swung back and forward. Macca, making a fool of himself when he tried to “meg” his opponent; Simpson having around ten good chances and never getting it into the hole (there’s a joke in there somewhere); Muers, being Muers, tried to score a back-heel or back-tip. Davey Smith managed to use his weight in dragging several of their players down. However, after a few bursts, we seemed to run out of steam. Simma eventually got his two points and also a three-pointer.

Good game, and we raised a small amount for Help for Heroes. Also, good luck to Alan Hoyle in his interviews and trials over the next few weeks to see if he’s selected for the Olympic Basketball team for GB in 2012.

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An update on the Sassco Basketball team.

Report by Alan Hoyle:

The team is doing fantastic. We lost our season opener, but have won our last 3 games, so we are doing pretty well right now.

Our last game was a 51 – 50 win against Sunderland University at Sunderland. We hadn’t played a game in 2 months and didn’t have a training session in 4 weeks due to the weather. We quickly fell behind 11 – 0 early in the first quarter but managed to end the quarter ahead 18 – 13. The second and third quarters were pretty close with the score getting tied 8 times.

The fourth quarter started with a run by Sunderland and our power forward being fouled out, whilst our centre was in foul trouble, it ended up with us being down by 9 points with 6 mins remaining.

We got ourselves back into the game on defence and drawing fouls which got us to the free throw line, with 28 seconds left we went ahead, 49 – 47. Sunderland called a time out and had the inbound. Sunderland used the shot clock and scored a 3 pointer with 5 seconds left in the game to go ahead 50 – 49.

We called a time out and drew up a play. We went out there and Darren May scored the game winner with 2.8 seconds left on a mid ranger fadeaway jumpshot over 3 defenders. Sunderland inbounded the ball but their last second shot attempt was blocked which give us the win and our 3 wins and 1 lose record, which puts us in fantastic shape to finish the season in a top 3 place.

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Sangha puts Sassco 3 points ahead. That’s all that matters.

Well would you believe it? Expecting a hammering, the brave Sassco bunch: Dave Smith, Dave Simpson, Mark Muers, Marc McDermont, myself (Davinder Sangha), plus Scott Hembrough, Paul “Tyson” Stokoe and the ever-reliable Wayne Greenwell, were holding out at 0-0, until I was placed clear outside the area to spring in a three pointer. It’s rare you hear the words, “Sangha grabs three for Sassco…”

Playing basketball was madness against an amateur, but genuine team, and, for once, it wasn’t my idea, it was Alan Hoyle’s idea, who runs Sassco Knightflyers. We’re returning the favour with an 11-a-side game in mid-June as well. A lot of people were interested in the basketball game, but I was pissed off that we had drop outs and expected only six there. It’s rare we can set events like this up, so if someone says they are okay for it, I expect them to. Not half-hearted replies. But, lucky for us, Tyson and Greenwell managed to bundle themselves along. Greenwell turned up for the cheerleaders, but I didn’t tell the pervert that they were aged between five and eight years old. He was gutted and decided to get kitted for the game. We were actually wearing the tops we are due to wear in Spain in October. I hastily heat glued the badges on, but Tyson’s came off as he cannot show any loyalty to Sassco.

Back to the game: After the opener, Simpson managed to get two points, but Knightflyers broke clear and secured more points. In the meanwhile, Tyson, with his own running commentary, managed to get points. Emu got a couple of three pointers, while Greenwell also did the same. Scotty H’s two points were the best. A sort of “back heel” with his hands. Macca got points, but threw the ball like a girl. I don’t think Dave Smith did as he was firing blanks.

It was confusing a bit. Shouts of “Muers, get your f**king foot through it!” as well as “Back post! Back post!” but overall it was astonishingly enjoyable. Looks like we know what sport we’ll take up when we all get banned.

The final score was 49 to Knightflyers and 29 to Sassco. Very impressive.

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Aspire 2 Achieve and the Sassco.co.uk Knightflyers say thank you to a local hero.

Aspire 2 Achieve and the Sassco.co.uk Knightflyers hosted a special awards ceremony at Coquet High School on Friday 26th for local hero, Joyce Richardson. Joyce, who is retiring at the end of the school year, has touched the lives of hundreds of young people in Northumberland.

The ceremony was attended by the Sassco.co.uk Knightflyers and students whom Joyce had taught over her career.

‘’Joyce, you have been a true inspiration to us all, you have dedicated a lot of your career to help create a sustainable basketball club in Northumberland which is ran the right way, we are honoured to have worked along side you and had your support’’ said Alan Hoyle from Aspire 2 Achieve ‘’your input into Aspire 2 Achieve has been invaluable and our whole organization thanks you for everything you have done for us.’’

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The Knightflyers team up with the Blyth Disabled Forum to offer high quality basketball coaching!

The Sassco.co.uk Knightflyers and the Blyth Disabled Forum join forces to offer young people of all ages and abilities, high quality basketball sessions in a positive, fun, relaxed environment and aim to instil self-confidence, enthusiasm and determination in all participants.

The first session took place on Saturday 30th January at Blyth Sportscentre, with other sessions planned to start in March.

‘The session was very enjoyable, which the young people would love to follow up’ said Ian Dixon, from the Disabled Forum ‘The staff were very knowledgeable and professional, and showed great patience with our young people’

‘I would rate this session 5/5!’ continued Ian ‘The quality of the service provided and the friendliness of the staff exceeded my expectations’

‘We thoroughly enjoyed this session’ said Michael Fittes of Aspire 2 Achieve/Sassco.co.uk Knight flyers ‘It was great to see how the young people overcame their individual challenges to participate in the session. It shows with a positive outlook you can rise above difficulty and have fun’

When asked for any suggestions on how the Knightflyers could improve their services for the next session Ian replied with ‘Just more of the same please!’

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Sassco.co.uk are linking up with a basketball team / organisation called the Northumberland Knightflyers who will now be known as Sassco.co.uk Knightflyers. Email contact is: info@aspire2achieve.org.uk

The Northumberland Knightflyers Basketball Club is open to people of all ages, our junior team has an age range of 5 – 15 years old, while our senior team has no upper age limit. We also welcome casual players who just wish to improve their game.

Training details : Both the senior and junior clubs train each Friday, 7pm till 9pm at Coquet High School in Amble (Acklington Road, Amble, NE65 0NG), each session costs £5.

Our club operates an ‘open door’ policy and always accepts new members to both our senior and junior clubs.

Aspire 2 Achieve and the Northumberland Knightflyers are a relatively new company and sporting club. They run basketball around Northumberland in a number of schools, community centres and disabled forums.

They currently have two basketball teams (senior and junior) who are in the Tyne Met League Division 3 (Senior team) and the CVL League (Juniors), whilst are working towards setting up a team for disabled people which will compete in a number of friendly games.

The teams were set up on September 20th 2009, mere weeks before the start of the new season. While the Senior team has struggled in their first 5 games, the Junior team has won 5 out of 7 games, including a 30 point victory.

Aspire 2 Achieve is a Northumberland based organisation whose prime purpose is to raise the awareness, confidence and productivity of youths in the area via the medium of sport.

All their staff have experience with coaching basketball in Northumberland and other areas in the UK. The head coach Alan Hoyle has over 9 years coaching experience and has received training from the six time World Champions, the Chicago Bulls. The unique experience allows the Knightflyers to offer an unmatched training programme to people of all abilities.

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