Month: July 2023

Manchester Magic KitKing Trophy 2023-24

KitKing Trophy returns in September

The KitKing Trophy for teams in Basketball England’s NBL Men’s Division One is set to return in September.

The competition will again be organised by NBL1 Men’s clubs in partnership with naming rights holder Kitking.co.uk and BE. 

It will see all 14 NBL1 clubs, plus a pair of invited Division Two sides, competing in four regional groups of four.  

The additional Division two teams for 2023/24 are last season’s NBL Division Three playoff champs Milton Keynes Breakers, who topped a number of NBL Division One sides as part of a lengthy National Cup run a year ago, and former NBL D1 winners Manchester Magic, who were relegated from the top flight at the end of last season.

Holders Hemel Storm will defend their title.

KitKing have supplied winning team wear to NGBs, professional and grassroots clubs throughout the UK, Ireland, Europe and beyond since 1992. They are the UK’s leading teamwear specialist with 30 years’ experience across more than 25 sports, including basketball. 

KitKing.co.uk CEO Dips Patel said: 

“We are excited to continue our partnership with Basketball England’s NBL Division One clubs.  

“Last season’s competition was a big success and our sponsorship will further extend our help and support of the Trophy in 2022/23. 

“It’s an exciting time for the sport in the UK as basketball continues to grow. We’re pleased to be a part of that, and to be able to support Basketball England’s D1 clubs through this partnership.” 

Tim Brown, former BE Board member and chair of the Men’s Division One group, said: 

“I would like to thank KitKing.co.uk for their ongoing support as we push the competition from strength-to-strength.

“The D1 men’s clubs are continuing to grow and move the league forward as a group with Basketball England’s support, making this an exciting time for both the sport and the Trophy itself.” 

The group stages of the competition will be played from 16 September through to 24 September, with the 16 contenders split into four groups of four teams.

The games will provide a curtain raiser to the Men’s NBL Division One season, which gets under way in October.  

Playing each other once, the top two sides in each group will progress to the quarter-finals then semi-finals, with the final set to take place later in the year.

Magic’s group schedule:

Group 4      
16/09/20237.30pmDerby Trailblazers v  Manchester Magic
17/09/20233pmNewcastle Universityv  Manchester Magic
23/09/20237pmManchester Magic v  Bradford Dragons
Manchester Magic and Mystics Vacancies

Development Officer and Volunteer Safeguarding Lead

We are recruiting a Development Officer (Community) and Volunteer Safeguarding Lead.

Development Officer (Community)

We are looking for a passionate advocate for basketball with a can-do attitude.

You will have a commitment to community engagement and reaching a wide audience to encourage a love for basketball.

You must be able to create a fun and safe environment for children to learn and thrive in.

Our community programme is at the core of all our activity at Manchester Magic and Mystics. We are committed to engaging as many children as we can to play basketball for fun. Many children develop from having attended our Community programme to join our national league teams even going on to represent the country at junior and senior levels. Others come for their love of the sport and later bring their own children to learn as they did. As such, Community is at the heart of all that we do. We want children to develop their basketball ability whilst having fun and learning about good sportsmanship.

For information on how to apply see our Vacancies page here

Volunteer Safeguarding Lead

A special opportunity has arisen for an experienced safeguarding specialist to assist in the redesign and embedding of  the Club’s safeguarding function across the Club.

We are looking for a safeguarding specialist with a proven track record in child safeguarding to volunteer as a Safeguarding Lead. We are looking for someone enthusiastic about putting welfare and safeguarding at the heart of the Club with leadership skills that can help and support the processes and practices to enable this to occur.

Ideally the suitable applicant will be able to offer training focused to our Club (or be able to direct us to some high quality and individualised training). Suitable applicants will also be comfortable with adopting a highly visible role within our Club as a point of contact for safeguarding.

We are looking for an individual that can take a proactive approach and advise on the review and design (where necessary) of existing practices to enable excellent service delivery across the Club both in our national league teams and in the delivery of our community programme.

For information on how to apply see our Vacancies page here

Magic and Mystics to feature heavily at Aspire All-Star Tournament

Congratulations to Manchester Magic and Mystics players selected to represent the North at the second annual Aspire All-Star National Tournament at the National Basketball Performance Centre next weekend (8th-9th July).

Manchester Mystics players selected:

Sophie Brittain, Akeala Daniel-Small and Mojan Malek (U13 Girls, coached by Mystics’ Natalie Feurtado), Isabelle Aldcroft, Wayet Gore, Paige Jagger, Sonia Maria Matei, Irene Oboavwoduo, Jane Oboavwoduo, Tiana Walker and Anya Williams (U15 Girls).

Manchester Magic players selected:

Ben Ashraf, Oluwatimileyin Babalola, Ege Cakmakkaya, Dylan Deans, Owen Iguma, Reiley McGlade, Theo Westwood (U13 Boys), David Akhidime, Harley Blake, Rufus Everatt, Dominic Goodwin, Camran Hanson, Jack Odongo and Ayomikum Olofintila (U15 Boys)

Schedule

Saturday 8th July

9:00am

Court 1 U15 Girls North 61-43 London

Court 4 U13 Girls North 47-35 London

10:45am

Court 2 U15 Boys North 60-75 London

Court 3 U13 Boys North 33-69 London

12:30pm

Court 1 U15 Girls North 37-55 Central

Court 4 U13 Girls North 49-39 Central

2:45pm

Court 3 U15 Boys North 72-40 Central

Court 4 U13 Boys North 67-49 Central

4:00pm

Court 2 U15 Girls North 58-38 South

Court 4 U13 Girls North 30-47 South

5:45pm

Court 1 U13 Boys North 52-69 South

Court 2 U15 Boys North 64-67 South

Sunday 9 July

11:45am

Court 2 U15 Girls Final Central 63-72 North

Mystics’ Irene Oboavwoduo was MVP, Sonia Matei won the shooting point contest, plus Irene Oboavwoduo and Anya Williams made the All-Star 5.

Court 4 U13 Girls Final South 63-40 North

Mystics’ Mojan Malek made the All-Star 5.

2:00pm

Court 2 U15 Boys Third Place North 85-47 Central

Court 4 U13 Boys Third Place North 69-60 Central

Magic’s Ege Cakmakkaya made the All-Star 5.

All players receive two tickets each for spectators. Entry for all others is £3 (£1 concessions) per day and can be purchased using the button below.

Buy Tickets Here