Edinburgh College has teamed up with the City of Edinburgh Basketball Club to support the development of the country’s elite players of the future. The college is sponsoring the club’s elite Talent Programme, providing a base for the best local players to develop their skills.
Elite players at the club, from Under 14 upwards, are getting to use the training facilities at the college’s Granton Campus. They have access to the sports hall and gym, with the extra training time and the resources they need to help them become top players.
City of Edinburgh Basketball Club aims to produce players who can compete for places at Scotland and GB level, and the sponsorship agreement will help them progress towards this. It currently has 36 players on the elite Talent Programme.
The club, which counts Rose Anderson – Scotland’s only female Olympic basketball player – among its ex-players – is based at Portobello and Holy Rood high schools. It has teams from primary 1 through to seniors competing in local, regional and national leagues, and has an excellent record of developing players to their full potential.
The sponsorship strengthens Edinburgh College’s community and local sports links, and comes after last year’s launch of a programme of competitive sports across Scotland’s colleges. Edinburgh College led the development of the college sports programme, which aims to encourage participation in sports at all levels from beginner to elite, to encourage healthy lifestyles and the benefits of physical activity.
Craig Nicol, head coach of the City of Edinburgh Basketball Club’s Talent Programme, said: “It’s invaluable to us to have secured the sponsorship of Edinburgh College and the opportunity to use their facilities as the home for the programme. It enables us to make the programme affordable for all our selected athletes and gives us the extra capacity to introduce many more hours of intensive practice outside their normal team training. We are delighted to be part of the Edinburgh College community.”
Neil Mackenzie, curriculum manager for Sport and Fitness at Edinburgh College, said: “We’re aiming to promote and support sports as widely as possible so we’re delighted we can support the club to train future stars. The club does some brilliant working in nurturing talent and getting young people involved in healthy, fun activity, and they’re perfect partners for the college.
“Our own sports performance courses have produced some top talent, including the likes of Scotland rugby international Damien Hoyland, so we understand the requirements of elite training. At the college, the basketball players are getting the extra time they need on court to take their skills to a higher level, and access to excellent facilities.
“I hope some of our own student basketball team members become involved with the club and together we’ll hopefully see some of them turning professional and competing at the highest levels in future.”
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