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Our Wolves open season with strong victories in their respective leagues.

Our Worcester Wolves Men and Women both had their season openers on Saturday 2nd October, in front of 300+ fans at University of Worcester Arena.

Our Worcester Wolves women tipped off first, at 5pm. In their first game of the WNBL Division 1 season vs Bristol Flyers. Our Women lead for most of the evening, as the Flyers just wouldn’t go away. A strong first half saw Wolves going in to the break leading 36-26. Going toe to toe in the 3rd, our women still lead by 10pts going into the 4th, 51-41. Flyers looked to soar in the fourth pouring in 15pts in the final 10 minutes, to Worcester’s 12. However it wasn’t enough to close the gap and claim the victory.

Coach Ryan said “Overall happy with the performance, but I think we can be a better team.” On individuals that stood out for him from the victory, he said “Charlotte and Shona contributed very well, both finished double digits in scoring. I feel like Charlotte really set the tone on the defensive end.”

Saturdays game saw the debut of Chandre Nunez. Chandre lead the team in scoring with 18pts, in her first time in the blue and orange of the Worcester Wolves. Ryan is really excited to have Chandre in the squad and thinks she compliments the other girls well.

Read the full game report here

Our girls striking a pose after their first regular season victory. Flanked by Assistant Coach Olly Miall and Head Coach Ryan Emery

Our Men got off to a strong start versus fellow league newcomers Warwickshire Warriors, who boasted University of Worcester Alumni Simon Payne as one of their starters. After a slow start our Men got on the scoreboard with a lay-up from Matei Balteanu and didn’t look back. Finishing the game with a strong 98-34 victory.

Saturday also saw the debut for Austin Payne, who like Chandre for the women’s team, also lead the team in scoring on his debut with 17pts.

Read the full game report here

Our guys gather for a photo at the end of their first season win, with a new team mascot!

Next Step Basketball Camp 2021

Just under 30 young men attended our inaugural Next Step Basketball Camp this summer. Lead by Basketball Development Officer Dean Blake, the camp took place in early August. All Basketball players in attendance were eligible for University enrollment in September 2022.

For 3 days campers were put through their paces, as if they were student athletes here at UW. “From as north as Liverpool and as south as Sussex, we wanted to show them what the next step on their academic and sporting journey could look like.” said Coach Dean.

The weekend started with fitness testing lead by our Strength and Conditioning staff, and evening games. The games were utilised to assess players and split them into competitive teams for the remainder of the camp. Days 2 and 3 were full of skills and drills and competitive games.

We wanted to see what was out there. With the pandemic, we didn’t get the opportunity to see players play. So we thought the best way to see them was to invite them here. The camp seemed to work well and the campers enjoyed it which is the most important thing.

There’s already talk of the camp being held next year and it being expanded so we can invite more players. “We definitely want to host the camp again next summer and make it bigger and better for the participants. To include girls in the camp or maybe even have a girls only camp as well, would be amazing.” Coach Dean added

Please stay tuned for announcements of camp dates.

ALUMNI Summer Slam 2021

Due to lockdown, Basketball wasn’t a part of this years Varsity celebrations. Men’s 1st player Wale suggested we create our own event to celebrate this years graduates. Daniel Johnson-Thompson pointed out that 2020 graduates didn’t have a Varsity event due to 2020 lockdown. So the Men and Women’s Basketball committee’s, got together and came up with the idea of ALUMNI SUMMER SLAM.

Alumni Summer Slam, was a mini tournament, showcasing our third year students of the past two years. The event took place on Wednesday 23rd June. The same week of Graduation.

Kieran Howell who formed part of the committee said. “We chose that week as we felt it would be the best time to engage as many of last years graduates as possible as they would be returning for graduation anyway.”

The committee organised the players into four teams and gave each team a captain, with the captains having the free reign to name the teams. The captains Grace Brownell, Layla Hall, Kieran Howell and Matthew Williamson announced their teams on instagram, which was followed by the Alumni Summer Slam Draft hosted by the committee’s very own Llifon Torr. Once the teams were sorted the committee, posted the days schedule and the teams.

In the midst of all the games Coach Dean bought out NBA 2Ball! Typically at these events, we see Dunk competitions or 3pt shootouts. We caught up with Coach Dean to find out the reason NBA 2Ball was included. “It’s an opportunity to continually bring people together, which is what the whole event is about. Dunking is individual and so is the 3pt competition. So we included something that’s inline with the premise of the event,”

The 4 hour event was streamed live on our women’s facebook page, click here to watch

Each graduate was given a framed digital version of their jersey. Coach Dean said “we don’t have the budget nor the kit supplies to give the players an authentic framed jersey, so we did the next next next best thing.” It was also a thank you, for their time and commitment to themselves and the Basketball programme.

2021 Graduate Wale said he liked the fact that it’s an event run for the students to enjoy their time and appreciate their time at University. Whilst 2020 graduate Layla “really liked seeing everyone again.” Estella who graduated in 2020 said “I love the idea that we got to be part of a new tradition that started with the classes of 2020 and 2021

Our 2020 and 2021 Alumni, gather at the end of Alumni Summer Slam for a group photo
Our 2020 and 2021 Alumni, gather at the end of Alumni Summer Slam for a group photo

Will we be seeing Alumni Summer Slam again? Coach Dean gave a resounding yes when we asked him. “we need to build on it and make it even better. The event was missing spectators. Having students and fans to watch would have been the cherry on top, for this year but it wasn’t to be.” said Coach Dean. He added “Next year we will invite parents, families, friends, fellow students and more alumni students to the event. Next year the event will be even bettere the event improves year after year.

Check out the some of the pictures of the event below

  • Hands down, man down! Mike New Jr gets up high for the mid range J