This weekend 7/8 November 2015, Letterkenny Blaze Basketball Club will host one of four qualifying tournaments in this year’s Basketball Ireland 
U18 Men’s Hula Hoop National Cup. The tournament will be played in An Dánlann, LYIT Sports Centre from 9.00 both mornings and games will go on into late on Saturday evening. There will be refreshments available to purchase at the gym with Compass, the onsite catering company looking after this.
Seven teams from around the country St Brendan’s BC Tralee, St Mary’s BC Castleisland, Neptune BC Cork, Killester BC Dublin, Titans BC Galway and old rivals Belfast Star BC along with our own U18 Men’s team will battle it out for a place in the quarter finals of this competition. The pedigree of the participating teams will give spectators the opportunity to view the high standard of basketball being played at this level around the country.
We ask our basketball community to ensure they take their junior ballers over to An Dánlann at some time over the weekend to watch some of the games. This weekend presents such a wonderful opportunity for them to watch how they too can develop their skills and game as they get older. Given our geographical location it is rarely possible for our younger players to attend matches and see teams of this standard. Obviously everyone is welcome to drop in, there is no admission fee.
Letterkenny Blaze is a club which offers basketball for all, those wishing to play competitively and it also caters for others who wish to play socially. 
This is not always easy to achieve and requires a vast amount of commitment from coaches and committee members. We are striving to get the balance right.
The Blaze U18 girls are also participating this year with their host venue being that of Ulster Elks Basketball at University of Ulster, Jordanstown on the same weekend. Their pool is a little smaller with teams from Oblate BC Dublin, Carraig na bhFear Rebels BC Cork, Ulster Elks BC, Tralee Imperials BC and Portlaoise Panthers BC at the venue. Again a really high standard of basketball will be seen. The first game in UUJ is at 10.00am on 7 Nov with Blaze V Carraig na bhFear Rebels.
All details on the website www.blazebasketball.ie or facebook page Blaze Basketball.