BG Tournament v3

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Plymouth Basketball Club’s Under 14 Squad put their abilities to the test recently with a

trip along the South Coast for the inaugural Bev Guymon Memorial Tournament at Solent

University.

The tournament, which attracted some of the best Junior programmes in South England at

Under 12 and Under 14 age groups, was organised to raise funds for the Bev Guymon

Memorial Fund. Bev was instrumental in the setup and formation of Solent Stars

Basketball Club in 1998 and sadly passed away after battling Pancreatic Cancer. In 2006,

Bev oversaw the transition from Solent Stars to Solent Kestrels and served as the clubs

General Manager until her death.

We caught up with Under 14 Head Coach, Steve Spurrier, and some of the players

involved to find out why these tournaments are so important to junior development.

Hi Steve, thanks for taking the time to fill us in on the

recent tournament. What was the aim of travelling to

Southampton?

This trip was all about development and exposure. The

Under 14s have had a strong season but we felt it was the

right time to explore beyond our region. I did some

investigation and was aware that there would be some

really strong programmes in attendance at the Bev Guymon

Memorial Tournament and the decision was made to give

these kids the chance to face some different opposition, in

a different part of the country and really test what we’d

worked on all year. The experience provided a positive impact, not just on the court, but in

the way that the squad represented the club, their parents and Plymouth as a whole – they

were an absolute credit.

Was there any noticeable difference in the level of competition or style of play from the

opposing teams?

The competition was certainly at a higher level to what we’re used to and was exactly what

we hoped for when deciding to attend. To be able to play against some of the best youth

set-ups in the country was a huge opportunity and the squad really embraced that. After the

initial nerves were wiped away, the players showed how well they can compete at this level

and put into practice all of the skills they had worked on over the course of the season. I

guess you could say it was almost an end of year ‘Exam’ to gauge our retention of the

lessons learnt.

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The tournament rules were slightly adapted from standard basketball rules (no free

throws for a foul whilst shooting, instead 2 points were awarded) due to time constraints

and to help with the flow of games, how did these rule changes affect the outcome?

It took us a little while to adjust to the rules involved but not in a way that phased the

players. In fact, once we got to grips with the differences, the players learnt a lot about the

importance of being able to find contact on the way to the basket and the way they were

able to adapt to the changes showed a lot about these guys.

And finally, was the tournament a success and why?

The whole weekend was a huge success, both on and off the court. Spending a night away

from home as a team really brought the entire setup closer together. It gave us an

opportunity to share team meals as well as the travel and I’m sure the players will have fond

memories of their first weekend away trip. Our future aims are for the club to attend many

more of these types of tournaments all over the country, as well as hosting our own with

some of the countries top talent travelling to Plymouth to see what we can offer.

We also spoke with Harvey and Toby. Both players are

currently in the Basketball England Aspire pathway and

we were keen to get their views on how the weekend

went.

Hi guys, congratulations on a great season! Tell us all

about your experiences at the Bev Guymon Memorial

Tournament

Toby; It was a great experience! The bus journeys to

games are always fun but this one seemed different as

we we’re going for an overnight stay which is new for all

of us when it comes to basketball. We were able to eat

meals together which is different as we’re normally just

tucking into a packed lunch on the bus but to be able to

go to a restaurant together, and all get together for

breakfast really made it feel like we were together as a

team.

Harvey; I agree, eating together and spending time

together outside of a basketball environment really

makes a difference and made us feel much more like a

group of friends rather than just a basketball team.

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So what about the tournament itself?

Toby; The tournament itself was a real eye opener. The teams we played against were much

more intense on defence than we’re used to and to a degree, play with much more

aggression and determination. It changed the way we play a little bit but in a good way. It

taught us the importance of being able to adapt how we do things and that our way isn’t

always going to work against every opponent.

Harvey; The style of play was definitely different but helped us to improve. Defensively they

were strong but it forced us to look at other options to get to the basket and probably

helped us to really look at our decision making.

You faced some of the best junior programmes in the country, how was it?

Toby; The first game was against Milton Keynes and they beat us by 10 but I think we learnt

so much from that game. Compared to us they were really big! After that we faced Solent

Kestrels and our performance was so much better. We lost by 3 but I think we all came off

the court thinking we should have won. Our third game was against Portsmouth and we

won that one, I’m not sure on the score line but it was quite comfortable. The lessons learnt

in the first 2 games really put us in a good position for that last game. We finished 3 rd in our

group which meant that we played Reading Rockets in our last game and we won that game

too. We had the lead for the whole game too which was good.

Harvey; The Portsmouth game was much more like the basketball that were used to and I

think that really showed in the way we played. It was definitely a comfortable win but I think

we learnt so much more about ourselves in the games that we lost. The Reading Rockets

game was really close and probably my favourite game of the weekend, they really made us

work for it!

Any final thoughts?

Toby; I’m one of the younger players in the squad and because of the COVID situation I

haven’t been able to play many games so tournaments like this are amazing! The whole

weekend was great and I think it will benefit us as a team moving forward. We’ve been able

to bond with other and when we normally only see each other at training that doesn’t tend

to happen.

Harvey; The whole weekend was so beneficial. We were forced to adapt to different styles

of play and the team chemistry throughout the weekend was great. It’s definitely something

I’d like to do again.

Thanks guys

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