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Basketball England

Hanson and Cavli selected in England U15 squad for Copenhagen Tournament

Manchester Magic Juniors Ceejay Hanson and Zeki Cavli have been selected in the England U15 development squad for the Copenhagen Invitational Tournament next weekend. The squad of 16 were put through their paces this past weekend at a training camp before being cut to the final 12 selected for the Tournament. Manchester Magic’s NBL Division 1 Men’s new Head Coach, Aurimas Verbukas, is a part of the coaching team heading out to the Tournament in Denmark this weekend.

The England team will face TopSportSchool VBL (Belgium), Kenya and hosts Denmark (White) in the group stage.

Schedule (Boys)

Friday 15th June

9:00am England U15 87-77 Kenya

5:00pm England U15 50-62 TopSportSchool VBL

Saturday 16th June

11:00am England U15 85-52 Denmark (White)

5:00pm 5th-8th Placement games England U15 90-36 Berlin BBV

Sunday 17th June

12:45pm Placement games 5th-6th England U15 71-74 Global Squad (USA)

England U15 Boys finished 6th.

The England U15 Girls are also in action at the Tournament, they face Iceland (Blue), Sweden (Yellow) and Csata DSE (Budapest, Hungary) in the group stage.

Schedule (Girls)

Friday 15th June

11:00am England U15 51-66 Iceland (Blue)

5:30pm England U15 65-47 Sweden (Yellow)

Saturday 16th June

9:00am England U15 50-77 Csata DSE

3:00pm 9th-12th Placement games England U15 61-40 Scotland

Sunday 17th June

11:00am Placement games 9th-10th England U15 70-58 Denmark (Red)

England U15 Girls finished 9th

Tournament updates can be found via the tournament’s twitter feed, @CPHInvitational and their website. 

Full Schedule here

Manchester Magic logo

Magic Coaches invited to prestigious Summer Camp in Spain

Manchester Magic coaches, Aurimas Verbukas and Tom Paraskeva, have been invited to coach at the highly prestigious Chus Mateo Basketball Academy Summer Camp in Spain this summer.

The Camp, in Spain, is run by Chus Mateo, who has just become EuroLeague Champion with Real Madrid, and is one of the most prestigious camps in Europe, with coaches from EuroLeague, ACB (Spain’s top Division), Finland, Denmark and other top clubs in Spain.

There are some places available on the camp, which runs 14th July to 22nd July, if anyone is interested in attending they can email Coach Ollie for the information, we have two of our kids already registered.

Manchester Magic logo

Anumba and Emeka-Anyakwo shone at Hoopfix All-Star Classic 2018

Michael Anumba’s swansong on British soil before heading to Winthrop University in the United States was described as being “like a man amongst the boys” by Manchester Magic’s new Division One head coach Aurimas Verbukas.

Anumba had 19 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals in the Class of 2018 game at the Hoopsfix All Star Classic.

The 18-year-old only missed out on the MVP as his team, Team Black, lost the game by 3 points to Team White.

Arinze Emeka-Anyakwo, also 18, played in the Underclassmen game at the Classic and showed what he can do with a solid display for Team White, where he had 8 points and 2 rebounds, who lost 85-71 to Team Black.

Magic Loreto Arinze Emeka-Anyakwo HASC 2018

Emeka-Anyakwo selected for 2018 Hoopsfix All-Star Classic

Manchester Magic and Loreto College’s Arinze Emeka-Anyakwo has been selected to suit up for Team White at the 2018 Hoopsfix All-Star Classic Underclassmen game on Saturday 2nd June at 2:00pm at Brixton Recreation Centre.

The Under-18 NBL National Champion, Emeka-Anyakwo, is also in contention to be selected for this summer’s GB Under-18 squad and was named in the EABL All-West Second Team.

The Hoopsfix All-Star Classic returns for its fourth year after a hiatus last year, showcasing the best talent from around the Country, for full rosters and tickets information visit Hoopsfix.com

Magic Loreto Michael Anumba HASC 2018

Anumba selected for 2018 Hoopsfix All-Star Classic

Manchester Magic and Loreto College’s Michael Anumba has been selected to suit up for Team Black at the 2018 Hoopsfix All-Star Classic Graduating Class game on Saturday 2nd June at 4:00pm at Brixton Recreation Centre.

The Winthrop commit, Anumba, is a six-time National Champion, four-time Finals MVP, and was also named in the EABL All-First Team for the West.

Anumba’s Magic and Loreto team-mate Arinze Emeka-Anyakwo will play in the Underclassmen game at 2:00pm.

The Hoopsfix All-Star Classic returns for its fourth year after a hiatus last year, showcasing the best talent from around the Country, for full rosters and tickets information visit Hoopsfix.com

Coach Ollie

Aurimas Verbukas appointed new Head Coach of Manchester Magic NBL Division One Team

Aurimas Verbukas has been appointed as the new head coach of Manchester Magic’s NBL Division One team.

The Lithuanian replaces Paul Middleton and Toloe Bagheri Danaei, who have decided to step down after several successful seasons at the helm.

Aurimas, 33, has been with the club for four seasons, winning national titles with Magic’s junior programme before spending a season in charge of the Mystics junior programme.

“I’m really excited for this opportunity,” said Aurimas, aka Coach Ollie.

“Manchester Magic has a big history of success, so to be given a chance to head coach the first team at this club makes me really humble. I am really thankful.

“Paul Middleton is one of the best coaches in Great Britain and both he and Toloe have done great work for many years. To take over from them is a big honour.

“I look forward to building a team that will be a very exciting mixture of youth and experience. I also hope to see all Manchester getting behind us.”

During their time in charge, Paul and Toloe guided the Magic from Division Three to Division One, before winning eight trophies in three stunning seasons.

  • 2014/15: National Trophy and National Cup
  • 2015/16: National Trophy, National Cup, League and Play-offs
  • 2016/17: National Trophy and Play-offs

Following the loss of some key players, this season proved to be a big challenge but almost resulted in another piece of silverware.

The Magic were beaten in the final of the Trophy by Hemel Storm before losing in the semi-finals of the Cup.

In the league, they finished eighth, before losing by a point in overtime to Loughborough Student Riders in the first round of the play-offs.

“Paul and Toloe have been instrumental in putting the Magic on the map at Division One level,” said Greater Manchester Community Basketball chief executive Phil Gordos.

“Their commitment, professionalism and passion for the club, the players and the game in general have ensured we are in great shape moving forward.

“I want to thank them for their hard work and dedication and hope they continue to think of the Magic as their club.”

The Magic will be holding trials for their Division One team in the coming weeks.

Stay tuned across the website and social media for details.

Manchester Mystics U11 Northants Tournament 2018

Mystics Triumph at Northants Invitational

Yet another journey to Northants led to a resounding success for our Under 11 (Primary School only) Mystics team on Saturday 21st April.

With five teams competing, we had a Round Robin Tournament with each team playing the other four.

Mystics U11 results:

Manchester 35 – 21 Ipswich

Manchester 51 – 1 Bucks

Manchester 26 – 13 Northants

Manchester 45 – 24 Sheffield

The young girls were a credit to the Club, playing very hard and fair and winning all games comfortably with spirited performances.

The future looks bright for the Mystics programme if these girls continue to perform like this. Well done to them and to the parents for their continued support and encouragement.

Team

Kady Bamford, Maria Bianco, Ciara Collier, Tallulah Connolly, Carina Costa, Elizandra Costa, Molly Finn, Ruby Gillespie, Rae Hughes and Maisie Keyes.

Manchester Mystics U11 at Northants

Image Credit: Ben Hughes

Aaron Menzies NBA draft 2018

Magic and Loreto Alumni Menzies declares for 2018 NBA draft

Former Manchester Magic and Loreto College player Aaron Menzies has announced that he will declare for the 2018 NBA Draft.

The 7ft 3in star only started playing basketball at 16 after being spotted walking down a corridor at Loreto Sixth Form College by Magic senior head coach Paul Middleton.

Now 21, Menzies is currently breaking records at Seattle University in the United States.

A former Great Britain U20 International, Menzies told the Seattle University website that he did not intend to hire an agent, allowing him to retrain his final season of collegiate eligibility.

“This is a great opportunity that will allow me to pursue my dream of playing professional basketball,” he said.

“This process gives me the chance to gain valuable feedback about my career moving forward whilst preserving my NCAA eligibility.”

Menzies averaged 11.3 points, 8.9 rebounds and 2.3 blocks in 26.9 minutes per game as Seattle won 20 games in the 2017/18 season.

You can find out more about Aaron’s statistics by clicking here.

You can watch talking about his basketball career by clicking here.

You can watch Aaron in action for the Magic by clicking here. 

Image Credit: Seattle University

Kaiyem Cleary Florida Southern

Cleary books NCAA ticket by joining Florida Southern

Kaiyem Cleary is the latest Manchester Magic player to secure his place in the NCAA, this time with Division Two college Florida Southern.

The 19-year-old guard and former Loreto College student left the Magic a year ago to attend Redemption Christian Academy in Northfield, Massachusetts

Now, after winning a new legion of fans across the Atlantic, the Greater Britain U18 international has secured a move from prep school to the Mocs, who play in the Sunshine State Conference.

In a post on Twitter, the 6ft 6in Cleary praised the coaching staff at Manchester Magic for “developing me into the player and person I am today”.

He also thanked his family and team-mates for their support.

Chance to catch up with Magic legend Lovedale

We have been given a fantastic opportunity to catch up with Andrew Lovedale, a former Manchester Magic and Loreto Basketball Academy player. He will be talking about his life at the ABC on Tuesday 24th April from 8:15pm. For those that may not know who Andrew is, here’s a quick summary…

Andrew visited London from Nigeria, heard about Magic’s reputation and attended one of our camps. Raw but very talented, he ended up moving to Manchester, where he studied and played. He represented Magic junior and senior teams before winning a place at famed US college Davidson. There, he played alongside a certain Steph Curry. Andrew was a very good player in his own right and played pro basketball in France. Now he runs a charity that works to improve lives in his homeland. He credits Magic and Joe Forber for helping him grow on and off the court.

More about Andrew’s background can be found here: https://a2sfoundation.org/story/

“I think this is a wonderful chance for current U18 and U16 players to hear from someone who has come through the basketball programme here, someone who has a real story to tell,” said Magic and Mystics CEO Phil Gordos.

“Andrew is making a special journey to Manchester while in the UK, so it would be brilliant if we could make sure there is a great turnout for him. We’ll be urging all teams who train on Tuesday night to stay for up to an hour afterwards. Those U16 teams who don’t train on Tuesday are more than welcome to attend, too.”

Image credits: A2S Foundation