Another
excellent turnout in the
basketball world were treated to
a red carpet entrance at the
plush Thistle Hotel in
Middlesbrough for the third
annual Game Time awards
presentation.
The evening was compeered by
James Thomson, head of Game Time
and Middlesbrough Lions and in attendance were a number of
special guests from various
backgrounds to present awards,
including American professional;
Ralph Bucci whose team in Greece
have just won the League,
Middlesbrough Lions Nigerian
star; Acho Anyigbo, Brenda
Thompson; councillor for sport
in Middlesbrough, Hip Hop
performer
Principul, Chairman
of TBL; Wade Tovey, FMTTM
Editor; Rob Nichols and from
Tees Valley Leisure; Deputy
Managing Director; Ian Donley &
Angie McGee.
The evening celebrated the
achievements of basketball
enthusiasts of all ages from
around the area. Within the
awards categories were Game
Time, Tees Schools League, Tees
College League, Tees Junior CVL,
Teesside Basketball League and
Middlesbrough Lions. All in all
over 390 medals and trophies
were presented.
In
the Schools League the big
winners were Manor College Heat
but unfortunately they were
unable to attend and their
players missed out on the
opportunity to receive their
awards on such a big stage.
Nunthorpe Lions U14 & U16 teams
did well by winning the County
Cup Finals while a number of
individual players are beginning
to emerge as very talented
contenders for the Most Valuable
Players awards. On this
occasion, Lewis Fisher was named
MVP for U16 but faced
competition from Dale Harrop of
Norton Knights who helped his
team to second place.
Tom Atkinson of Macmillan
Academy Magic picked up the
Coach of Season award for U14
after guiding his team to third
place in possibly the strongest
division of the schools league.
Magic have been transformed this
season after just one win last
year to genuine title
contenders, having held first
place for 3/4 of the season and
making the semi final of the
County Cup.
Game Time this year established
a junior Central Venue League,
attracting 19 teams and over 150
players playing at Middlesbrough
College every month. The event
was hailed a huge success and
provided much needed competitive
games for youngsters in the
area. The big winners were
Thirsk Thunder who won the U12
league and had two star players
pick up awards with Chris
Pallister collecting top scorer
and Derek Van Der Westerhausen
being voted Most Valuable
Player. Thirsk Coach; Craig
Wakefield was also recognised as
he was voted the Coach of the
Season for his U12 team, just
ahead of Jaycie Hall for
Richmond Vikings in U18.
Vikings
U18 championship was partly due
to the amazing scoring run from
Mark Williams who finished with
119pts, the next closest player
being Dan Brown on 59pts.
In the Teesside Basketball
League, Richmond Vikings were
recognised for their amazing
turn in fortunes by collecting
Coach of the Season for Jaycie
Hall and Player of the Season in
Lee Norton. Norton has been
instrumental in Vikings success
this season after joining in the
Summer and helped the Yorkshire
outfit to second place, a huge
improvement on the previous
season when they lost every
game. Norton faced a stiff
challenge from Sonics' Michael
Thompson who has been in
splendid form throughout the
year and Norton just edged the
vote with a better points per
game total. SCM Sonics picked up
the Division One Team of the
Season while Middlesbrough Lions
collected the honour for
Division Two.
In the TBL Cup, Middlesbrough
Lions salvaged some pride by
winning the Division One central
venue league competition. Lions
have been plagued by injuries
all season and will be looking
to add some depth for next year.
Richmond Vikings earned the
Division Two title after some
excellent play by John Ford, who
wont finish top scorer in every
game, but has proven what a
crucial player he is.
For
Middlesbrough Lions, both local
and national league players were
recognised after a great first
season in National League saw
huge improvements in the U16
outfit while the senior men made
the Final 16 of the National
Founders Cup and have now been
officially accepted into
National League Division 4.
Damian Warriner was awarded the
National League Player of the
Season for senior men while Dan
Brown and Patrick O'Connor
received the MVP award for
U16's. James Burton picked up a
special performance award for
hitting an incredible twelve 3
pointers in one game and juniors
Chris Bell, James Tappenden,
Oliver Clark and many more were
among the winners.
For the full list of nominees
and winners, click
here.
The Game Time organisation has a
great volunteer base with 52
members providing help in some
capacity. Some go above and
beyond what is expected and
receiving a superb Kenneth Cole
watch for their assistance
throughout the season were Wayne
Beadle, photographer; Steph
Edwards; table & stats, Sarah
Thomson; table & stats, Claire
Smith; table & stats, Sid
Nicholls; coaching, Adrian
Bewick; technical support,
Principul; Match day
entertainment and Jaycie Hall;
Match day commentary.
A special thank you to Aarlene
and the staff at the fantastic
venue of Thistle Hotel in
Middlesbrough. Also thanks to
the event sponsors in Ravenwood
Roofing, DCS Paving and Teesside
Basketball League. Please view the
facilities of the plush hotel
via the link below.
