The Samworth Basketball Academy is a partnership between The Samworth Church Academy and the Mansfield Giants Basketball Club. It is headed by Dan Richards from the Giants and has been running since July for the Year 8 boys and girls.
Since the Academy started the players have undergone weekly training sessions and the squads have been cut down from around 30 to just 12 students in both teams. Life for the Academy students is not easy, trying to fit in studying along with practice and games. The Academy is built around the students' lessons and the players also attend after school sessions.
Head Coach Dan Richards is delighted with the progress of the Academy and its players, "both the girls and boys are doing a great job, not only on the court but off the court as well. It wasn't easy to make the grade to be involved with the Academy and many have dropped out. I think each and every one of our players are great role models and ambassadors for the school. It is also hard to believe that most of our players have never played basketball before joining the Academy and now many of them are now actually playing national league basketball out of school for the Giants."
The Academy teams will be taking part in the Nottinghamshire schools competitions and also England Basketballs Under 14s competition.
