County Upper Basketball Academy quartet receive East regional team call-ups

Four players from the County Upper Basketball Academy have been selected for East regional teams, to compete in National Regional tournaments.

Grace Spooner and Jemima Kent are in the under-15 East of England team, with Anna Cartwright and Charlie Smyth in the under-13 East of England team.

Spooner is no stranger to the East of England regional pathway, having played for the under-15 team a year young, as well as representing the East of England at under-11 and under-13.

Both Kent and Cartwright have represented the region at under-11, with the latter being in the team which won the National tournament last year.

Smyth breaks into the East Regional ranks for the first time having taken some huge steps this year with his development.

The under-13 tournament, involving 10 teams, is in Manchester this weekend. The under-15s are in action in Manchester on July 27/28.

“I’m proud of the achievement of these four players,” said Academy coach Darren Johnson. “It’s not easy to make it onto the East team, but these four have through their own dedication and help from our coaching staff.

“All these players started off by coming to our basketball programme because they enjoyed our sport. It is so rewarding to see our programme turn that into a success, and to see these young athletes progress up the performance pathway, developing them into top ten players in the East of England for their respective age group teams.”