ISLAND GAMES: CAN THE ISLE OF WIGHT TAKE FIRST EVER BASKETBALL PODIUM PLACE IN GUERNSEY?

The Isle of Wight basketball team will be travelling to the Guernsey hoping to bring their 1st ever medal home…

9 teams are competing in this year’s Island Games. The side with the strongest record are Cayman Islands with 2 golds, followed by Saaremaa and Menorca with 1 gold apiece.

The Isle of Wight have avoided the Cayman Islands and Menorca in their group of 4, but face Saaremaa. Their other opponents are the Faroe Islands and Ynys Mon.

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Island Echo spoke with assistant basketball coach Y. T about the Isle of Wight’s prospects of coming home with their 1st ever medal in basketball.

Y. T said:

“For this years games, we are taking one of the strongest squads we have ever taken, largely unchanged from the previous couple of island games – with the welcome addition of a few 1st timers which add a variety of skill, height and pace. This, along with the tournament structure, means that if we finish 1st or 2nd in our group, we head off to play for a medal.

“The toughest opponent in our group is Saaremaa, they have won a medal at each of the last 5 games – including their 1st (a silver) back when the games were on the Isle of Wight in 2011 and gold in Jersey 2015.

“In our group, we should get a win against Ynys Mon and Faroe Islands; neither will be a walk in the park as – like us – they have both been improving each time we have seen them at the games.

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“We have never had a podium finish at the games, but have suffered a few times previously with unfortunate tournament draws such as in Gotland 2017 where we had to play all three medallists but still ended up 5th.”

We then asked Y.T how he assessed the strength of the 2023 Isle of Wight basketball team.

Y.T told Island Echo:

“We are lucky enough to have a both our player/coach Ian Broadsmith and Rafe Abrook return for another games, even though the Island Games took a break in 2021 because of Covid-19, these two veterans didn’t.

“Over the last couple of years, they have been on international duty – with both representing Great Britain in Malaga for the Maxibasketball European Championships 2022, ahead of winning Silver in the BaBa Masters Tournament in Germany earlier this year.

“We have a welcome addition of pace, athleticism and intensity from 1st timers Antoine Lemartinel, Billy Taylor and Isaac Kalerwa to combine with the rest of our well balanced experienced squad – the rest of whom have all been to at least 2 island games before.”

We asked Y.T how well the team had prepared for the 2023 Guernsey Island Games.

Y.T replied:

“Due to the lack of 5v5 organised basketball on the Isle of Wight at the moment, we have prepared in our typical unconventional way, with individual players who have competed off the island for different teams as well as locally. We have 7 of the team regularly competing in the PC Consultants IOW 3×3 league.

“As always, we are good spirits, looking forward to a fun week away representing the Isle of Wight with a solid chance of making a medal playoff game and then it will be ours for the taking.”

Isle of Wight Basketball Squad:

Ian Broadsmith  – Player/Coach
Y T – Assistant Coach

Players: Rafe Abrook, Mitch Andrews, Anthony Bryan, Jack England, Harrison Fisher, Tristan Hall, Isaac Kalerwa, Antoine Lemartinel, Isaac Kalerwa, Billy Taylor, Ross Toogood, Conor Wright

The Isle of Wight basketball team play the Faroe Islands on Sunday 10th July at 19:00. They then face their most difficult opponents Saaremaa on Monday 11th July at 16:30. Their final group stage game is against Ynys Mon on Tuesday 12th July at 16:30.

Should the Isle of Wight top their group, they will play in the final on Friday 14th July at 16:30.

Sadly, the Isle of Wight will not be taking a women’s basketball team to the 2023 Guernsey Island Games. Apparently, there are insufficient female basketball players to form a team.

The only time a women’s basketball team have competed at the Island Games was here on the Isle of Wight in 2011.