Both the men’s and the under 19 teams beat their rather complacent counterparts in the annual inter-insulars at Fort Regent.And, still smarting from the derogatory comments made by the Guernsey association last year, Jersey’s ladies not only produced a team but also gave their rivals something to think about this time, in spite of the 77-48 score.Men’s coach Rick Blakemore still had a big smile on his face this morning:’It was a quite unexpected win after we were beaten last year but in 20 years of coaching I don’t think I’ve ever seen players happier to win a match! I’ve only been here four months and just hadn’t realised just how big a deal this inter-insular is.
The team have been training very hard – they practised on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday before Saturday’s match, which means there was a danger they would be over-tired by Saturday, but they were inspired and I reckon they’d still be running now if I asked them to.’Blakemore said that the coaching had really been aimed at next year’s match.’I didn’t think that three or four months would be enough for them to win this time, but I have to say that I’ve never seen such an amazing improvement in such a short time, from any team.
They really wanted to win.’He added that the enthusiastic crowd had lifted the Jersey players.’I was gobsmacked by the team’s reaction, and by the intensity from all those involved.Duncan Prince won the Most Valuable Player award and he thoroughly deserved it, but they were all heroes on Saturday.’The men’s match had been tipped to go in Guernsey’s favour, but Jersey were determined.
In an enthralling game, they beat the Sarnians 84-81 with notable performances from Greg Ruellan, Steve Brady and Rob Honey, but it was Prince, who really proved himself, even when the pressure was on.After the match Guernsey coach Simon Le Blancq blamed his side for being complacent.’At the back of our minds we thought we’d win because we won so easily last year,’ he said, ‘But there was no excuse for our complacency.’Following twelve years of defeat in the junior game, Jersey’s U19s claimed the first win of the day to mark the turning point for Jersey basketball.
Guernsey have a strong junior coaching programme which was evident from their performance on Saturday, but the time and attention that Jersey has been paying to its younger players in recent years is clearly beginning to pay off.
Strong defensive moves and outstanding shooting from Dave Middleton, Sam d’Avoine and Nick Dingle edged Jersey ahead towards the end of the second quarter with 14-year-old Alex Henderson making strong moves under the basket, The Jersey lads held on to win 66-63 and delighted coach Stuart Gilmore with their performance.’Last year’s game had shown real improvement, and I think Guernsey should have paid more attention to it.
Jersey really deserved to win today, they are a young team and don’t have Guernsey’s experience, but they have trained really hard.
I’m so pleased for them.
Guernsey can be very critical of basketball in Jersey, but I think we have proved a vital point to them today.’After a two-year absence it was an anxious moment for the Jersey women, fielding an almost entirely new side, with only three players remembering the heavy defeat of 2002.Playing the Island Games Champions was never going to be easy, but the two-year absence paid off, with a vast improvement in the standard and level of Jersey’s game.
Although the final score was 77-48 there were excellent performances from newcomers Natalie Michalak, Jenni Bouteloup and Clare Le Maistre.’We were all incredibly nervous,’ captain Catherine Small said.
‘We’d had such a terrible time two years ago and were desperate to build on what we’ve learned over the last few weeks.
The team is very new, and we expected it to be as tough a match as it turned out to be.
we were a bit shaky to start with but I was very happy with our performance.
We didn’t even have a team two months ago so the girls should be incredibly proud of themselves.
I’d like to think that we gave Guernsey a bit of a shock! Just wait till next year!’JBBA vice president John Small described the day as a massive success for Jersey basketball.’It was definitely our turn.
All the hard work is finally paying off.
Guernsey expected to win everything like they did last year.
They’ll have to watch out next year.
I think it’s fair to say that we’ve definitely made a come back.’
