GAME FORMAT – TEAM NI v WALES
Four games in total will be played over the weekend of Saturday 15 & Sunday 16 June at De La Salle College.
Games Schedule:
Sat 15 June
Game 1: 11.00am – International Challenge
Game 2: 1.00pm – International Development Challenge
Sun 16 June
Game 3: 10.45am – International Challenge
Game 4: 12.45pm – International Development Challenge
2.30pm – Presentation – MVPs and All-Star 5.
20 boys (born 2004 and 2005) from 8 clubs across Northern Ireland have been selected for the Team NI U16 Boys Development squad that will host the Wales U15 Boys squad at De La Salle College on the weekend of 15 & 16 June.
Training together as a talented group and then playing at a representational level will hopefully provide an inspirational experience that will encourage the lads to want to ‘kick on’ with their game in the coming season at their club and with an aspiration to remain within the Team NI Boys structure.
The coaches were delighted with the standard of the players at the trials and they believe the final 20 will offer great competition for the Welsh on 15 & 16 June.
It is great to see representation from across NI in the squad with eight of the eleven NI-based clubs that compete in BNI’s Junior Boys Leagues having boys taking part.
We have a great coaching team ready to put them through their paces:
Jim Martin – Head Coach
Paddy McGaharan – Coach
James Westland – Coach
Darren Oakey – Team NI Lead Coach
Looking forward to the visit of Wales to Belfast Team NI Lead Coach Darren Oakey commented:
“I would like to welcome this year’s visiting team, Wales U15 Boys, and hope that they enjoy their visit to Northern Ireland on and off the court. The format of this event is set out to give many of our young and talented players the opportunity to compete at the next level in readiness to challenge for positions in the full U16 team in September.
This event has been put together as part of BNI’s 3-year strategy plan for the Team NI initiative.”
To those lads that missed out on selection – thank you for trying out, keep working on your game and consider coming back to trial in September as the full U16 team get ready for the 2019-20 season.