News

England Calls for Mighty Mo
Posted: 14 th April 2009

Morayo has also been selected to represent England U15s this week in the Barking Abbey International Tournament. This takes place at the Barking Abbey Leisure Centre, Sandringham Road, IG11 9AG. Tournament runs from 15th to 17th April. This event has teams attending from Bosnia, Spain and Italy. Morayo has deservedly risen very quickly since his Lilleshall debut last October where he was selected to join the England 1994 development squad.

Congratulations Mo!

http://www.abbeybasketball.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=169&Itemid=2

Mo and Cam back from Prague
Posted: 13th April 2009

Morayo Soluade and Cameron Thomas are back from representing the South West APC (Area Performance Centre) in the Easter Eurobasket Basketball Tournament in Prague, Czech Republic. Representing Shenley Scorpions and Bucks Hornets the boys did themselves proud finishing 4th in a tournament made up some of the best players from Denmark, Serbia, Lithuania and the Czech Republic among others. Morayo has also been selected to represent England U15s this week in the Barking Abbey International Tournament (15th-17th April). Both will now be focused on keeping the Bucks Hornets National League hopes alive as they face Newham All-Star Sports Academy in the final eight this Saturday in their quest to be crowned U14 National Champions in only their first year together.

Thames Valley Police Junior PCSO Coaching
Posted: 11th April 2009

On Saturday 11th April Shenley Scorpions' U15 Assistant Coach Chris Ellmer was requested by Thames Valley Police to teach a 90 minute basketball training session for 17 children ranging from ages 6 to 11 at New Chapter School in Coffee Hall as part of their Junior PCSO initiative in Woughton South. Chris jumped at the chance and even though the weather was very wet on the day stopping the use of the outside courts, the children were treated to a really fun session of learning the basics and having races between teams in the main hall.

Tesco For Schools & Clubs Vouchers
Posted: 24th February 2009

Shenley Scorpions are appealing to all of their members to collect and donate Tesco ‘For Schools & Clubs’ Vouchers to the club. Our main aim is to be able to replace our U11s group basketballs which were all shamefully stolen a couple of weeks ago. Obviously we would love to be able to purchase even more equipment for the club but this will depend on the number of vouchers we receive so please, GET COLLECTING!

Dates to remember

Vouchers in store:

from Monday 2nd March 2009 until Sunday 7th June 2009

Orders and vouchers deadline:

Friday 3rd July 2009

Merchandise Now On-Sale!
Posted: 13th February 2009

Shenley Scorpions are happy to announce that they are now offering members the opportunity to purchase Hooded Sweatshirts and Reversible Training Kits (Vest & Shorts) at an extremely low rate. The hooded sweatshirts include an embroidered Scorpions logo on the left breast and the players surname and our website printed on the back. The Reversible Training kits include a reversible vest and shorts with club logo/name, players surname and number of choice printed on both sides. See prices below, order forms available at training or from the ‘Merchandise’ section.

Hooded Sweatshirts: Junior Sizes £15, Adult Sizes £20
Reversible Training Kits: Junior Sizes £30. Adult Sizes £35

Another School On-Board!
Posted: 13th February 2009

Shenley Scorpions are proud to announce the successful signing of yet another formal school-club partnership. Bradwell Village School have joined our existing school partners in recognising the hard work that our club is doing to offer young people the opportunity to learn the sport and compete. The school will be displaying our club poster on their notice board and encouraging interested students to join the club. For further details see: ‘School Partners’.

Scorpions U15s Victorious
Posted: 30th November 2008

Shenley Scorpions entered both their U13s and U15s boys teams into a four team U16s tournament funded by the MK Community Foundation and hosted by MKBA at Shenley Brook End on 23^rd November. Competing against players as much as three years older than them the U13s gave a strong showing and gained much needed expertise for their upcoming BJBL season. Scorpions U15s were dominant and went undefeated throughout the tournament to claim the trophy.

Cam and Mo in the Press!
Posted: 14th November 2008

Shenley Scorpions players Morayo Soluade and Cameron Thomas have been recognised in both the MK News and the MK Citizen newspapers for their recent achievements at the Lilleshall Inter-Region Selection Tournament. Both players have been working very hard recently both for the Scorpions and the Bucks Hornets National League squad so it is great to see this effort rewarded.

MK News: http://www.mk-news.co.uk/mknews-sport/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=364078
MK Citizen: 
                        

Two more for the Table
Posted: 7th November 2008

Shenley Scorpions coaches Bob Winton and Jamie Kesten have successfully completed their Level 2 Table Officials Course. They now just have to complete two games as a timekeeper and two games as a scorer to receive their certificate and be able to 'work the table' at local and national league competition. If you are interested in becoming a coach, referee or table official then be sure to check out our 'development' section and get in touch with us!

Congratulations Brendan!
Posted: 3rd November 2008

Shenley Scorpions is proud to announce that budding young coach Brendan Okoronkwo has officially passed his Level 2 England Basketball Coaching Course! Brendan has shown tremendous committment and determination in developing as a coach and so the committee was more than happy to pay for his course. Brendan has been with the club as a player for years and we are all very grateful that he wants to give back by volunteering his coaching services every week. Such committment from those that have reaped the benefits of Shenley Scorpions Basketball Club over the years just goes to bolster the status of the club as the premier community oriented basketball club in Milton Keynes, where the development of young people is paramount!

Lilleshall Inter-regional tournament success!
Posted: 26th October 2008

Cameron Thomas, of the Shenley Scorpions and Bucks Hornets, one of the youngest players to make the South England squad, has been selected to train with the South West Area Performance Centre. Also representing Shenley Scorpions and Bucks Hornets was Morayo Soluade who was recognised as one of the top 7 players of the tournament and selected for the England U16's development squad! Well done to both!

BJBL Fixtures SUSPENDED!

Posted: 15th October 2008

All BJBL Fixtures have been suspended following an emergency committee meeting last night (23rd October). Several issues including the fixtures schedule, code of conducts for players, coaches and spectators and a lack of clarity over this season's game rules have caused the league to suspend fixtures until after half-term. Apologies for any inconvenience.

Bucks Sport Awards 2008
Posted: 12^th October 2008

Bucks Sport are holding their annual Awards ceremony “to honour the amazing work carried out every day by volunteers and coaches across the county”. The categories are:

- Coach of the Year
- Young Leader of the Year
- Volunteer of the Year
- Club of the Year
- Sports Project with Impact, Innovation and Partnership
- School of the Year
- Unsung Hero

The deadline is the 30th October, so If you would like to nominate the club or someone from it for any of the awards above then please follow the link below:

Winning design for BJBL Logo Competition
Posted: 12^th October 2008

Kian Vaziri from the Shenley Scorpions U15 squad accepted a cheque for £50 on behalf of the club for his winning entry to the BJBL logo competition by Dave Butler, BJBL Chairman on Saturday 11^th October.

The logo will soon feature on the league website (www.bjbl.org.uk) as well as all league documents and communication.

Scorpions Coaching Staff attend NBA Coaches Clinic @ O2 Arena
Posted: 11^th October 2008

Several members of the Shenley Scorpions coaching staff were invited to attend an NBA Coaches clinic with current New Jersey Nets Assistant Coach Tom Barrise at the O2 Arena. As well as giving everyone a chance to do a bit of team-building (Note: people from Milton Keynes aren’t great at driving to the O2) it was a great opportunity to hear from a coach with experience at every level of basketball in the USA that, while some things might be done differently, a lot of the drills are pretty much the same even up to NBA level. In fact, Tom made a point of commending a lot of the coaching that goes on in Europe as he has found that European players are often technically superior to their American counterparts. The one thing he said European players often lack is defensive intensity, so there you go guys, it’s not just me saying it!

Once the clinic was all wrapped up there was the chance to take a few photos and of course get a few shots in on an NBA court.

IGC Stingers announced as Official Cheerleaders of Shenley Scorpions!
Posted: 26^th September 2008

Shenley Scorpions are excited to announce that it has joined forces with Ice Gems Cheerleading and has acquired its very own cheerleading squad. On top of cheering for all our squads at games and putting on demonstrations during time-outs and half time the squad will also be raising the club profile in the community through its extensive community work.

Shenley Scorpions 2008/2009 Season Begins!
Posted: 11^th September 2008

Shenley Scorpions resume training this Saturday 13^th September and is looking forward to welcoming back all its members and hopefully meeting new members recruited over the summer. Our sessions have remained the same as last year with no price increases and we have added a new U8’s session as part of our continued commitment to player development. Remember to keep checking back into the site for regular updates and events.

Walton High Open Day Success
Posted: 6^th September 2008

Shenley Scorpions Basketball Club was just one of many clubs that took part in the Walton High Sports Open Day aiming to increase extra curricular participation in sport among its students and others in local primary school. Shenley Scorpions took along several of their players and coaches to help demonstrate to parents and students what a typical training session is like and everyone who participated on the day had a great time. Our club received a lot of interest from local students and we hope to see plenty of new members at our first session back this week!

GB Courtside Rewards Scheme
Posted: 31^st August 2008

Courtside Rewards is a new initiative from British Basketball to reward its fans. Shenley Scorpions members can earn cash back for the club to pay for coaching, kit, equipment, or court time all by simply purchasing tickets to any of the GB International games this summer! To buy tickets go to www.theticketfactory.com/basketball or call the ticket hotline number 0844 581 0741 stating “Shenley Scorpions Basketball Club”. For every £15 ticket sold the club will receive £4, for every £10 ticket sold the club will receive £2 and for every £5 ticket sold the club will receive £1. For the matches, venues and dates please visit: www.basketballgb.com.

New Website for Shenley Scorpions
Posted: 31^st August 2008

As you will notice we have redesigned our website as part of our ongoing process of club development. Please take a moment to look through the new site, particularly the new features such as:
- ‘Teams’ – important information on all age groups
- ‘Honours’ – player, coach and club honours
- ‘School Partners’ – information on all schools which work with us
- ‘Development’ – player, coach and club development goals
- ‘Columnists’ – regular monthly columns from former members
- ‘Calendar’ – all club fixtures, events and important dates
- ‘Links’ – links to all related websites of interest to our members

Bristol Academy Flyers Partnership
Posted: 24^th August 2008

In yet another move towards securing positive and challenging futures for our members Shenley Scorpions Basketball Club has signed an official partnership with Bristol Academy Flyers Basketball Club. Several of our former members have moved on to the Flyers recently including former players Richard Loftman, Rob Loftman, and Iretemi Omoyeni and former Head Coach Liam Anderson-Browne.

The goal of this partnership is to promote participation and exchange between our two clubs in the form of annual tournaments between the Scorpions and the Flyers, visits for Shenley Scorpions players to the facilities at Filton College (Home Court of Bristol Academy Flyers) and places for the most promising and talented Shenley Scorpions players at Bristol Academy, one of the best basketball academies in the country and rated 4 Star by England Basketball. To find out more about the Bristol Academy Flyers Basketball Club please click the link to the left.

Bucks Hornets National League Partnership
Posted: 17^th August 2008

Shenley Scorpions are proud to announce a partnership with the new Bucks Hornets National League programme. In accordance with this partnership particularly talented and gifted Shenley Scorpions players will be able to join one of the brightest new programmes in England Basketball National League competition and receive expert and quality coaching.

The goal of the Bucks Hornets is to offer the best players in Buckinghamshire the opportunity to develop their skills through two 2 hour training sessions each week, numerous friendly fixtures and tournaments (including the Caixa Manlleu Tournament in Barcelona) as well as National League competition.

Shenley Scorpions to continue to offer “Basketball for ALL” in all our training sessions and Bucks Junior Basketball League games and now due to the partnership with the Bucks Hornets we are able to offer advanced progression for particularly talented players to pursue their basketball goals.

Social Networking for Shenley Scorpions
Posted: 10^th August 2008

In order to enhance our online presence and keep our members up to date with all club news, events, fixtures and promotions Shenley Scorpions now has pages on Tagged, Bebo, Myspace and Facebook. To add us please click the links below:

                             

Shop online and raise money for Shenley Scorpions Basketball Club
Posted: 3^rd August 2008

Shenley Scorpions Basketball Club based in Milton Keynes has launched a new online fundraising webshop.

Shenley Scorpions Basketball Club is asking its supporters to shop online at http://www.buy.at/shenleyscorpions and raise money for their club at no extra cost.

Over 100 retailers are accessible through the webshop, including BT, Marks & Spencer, John Lewis and Next. Many retailers provide exclusive offers to the webshop, such as discounts or offering free delivery to the customer, providing more reasons for supporters to buy products through the webshop and the webshop is straightforward to use and no technical knowledge is required.
 
Head Coach of Shenley Scorpions Basketball Club, Jamie Kesten says: "The webshop facility is such a simple but effective idea. We receive a commission on each purchase you make. Donating to our organisation couldn't be easier!"

Shenley Scorpion at the European Championships
Posted: 27^th July 2008

Rob Loftman, one of our players is representing England at the U16 level in the European Championships this summer in Sarajevo.

To keep up to date with Rob and all the rest of the action go to: http://www.fibaeurope-u16men.com/enDivB/default.asp

New Shenley Scorpions Logo
Posted: 20^th July 2008

As part of our name change we ran a competition among all our members to design a new logo for our club.

Our new logo shown to the right is based on the winning design by Will Townsend and will appear on our website, merchandise and all club communications.

Scorpions 2007/2008 BJBL Results
Posted: 13^th July 2008

Shenley Scorpions results for the 2007/2008 season were as follows:

- U11s: League and Playoff Runners-Up
- U13s: League Winners and Playoff Runners-Up
- U15s: League and Playoff Runners-Up
- U17s: League and Playoff Runners-Up
- Men’s: Playoff Winners

Scorpions players make Bucks Hornets National League squad
Posted: 5^th July 2008

Seven U14 Shenley Scorpions players have been selected to represent the county in National League competition for the upcoming 2008/2009 season. The selection comes after a long summer of training, trials and competitive fixtures for the squad. The selection of every single Shenley Scorpions player recommended to the Bucks Hornets coaching staff is a positive reflection of the hard work that both the players and the clubs volunteers have put in all season.

Our congratulations go to the following:

- Morayo Soluade
- Kian Vaziri
- Abdulaziz Saad
- Briarley Klassen
- Cameron Thomas
- Samuel Egedi
- Chris Owen

Shenley Scorpions efforts recognised by MK Citizen Newspaper
Posted: 1^st July 2008

Scorpions players selected at South of England Trials
Posted: 15^th June 2008

Morayo Soluade, Chris Owen and Kian Vaziri of Shenley Scorpions were all selected for the South of England training squad after representing Buckinghamshire in the annual regional tournament earlier today. Buckinghamshire finished the tournament unbeaten but the real reward was being selected. These players will now train in preparation for the Lilleshall England Basketball selection event in October where the most talented young basketball players born in 1995/1996 will be recruited to attend Area Performance Centres.

Scorpions mawl Lions
Posted: 1^st June 2008

Shenley Scorpions U13s Vs Sharnbrook Lions U13s (56-16) WIN

In the second friendly meeting of these two teams the Scorpions once again made use of the mismatch between these two teams by rotating their bench and getting every player involved in the game. Of particular note during this game were 9 year olds Jordan Edgell and Mike Watts. Playing against players 4 years older than them neither Jordan nor Mike looked out of place, indeed they posed serious defensive problems for the Lions despite the age gap. The end result was yet another blowout victory for the Shenley Scorpions U13s, this time by 40 points!

Shenley Scorpions achieve Clubmark and Three Star Accreditation Status
Posted: 30^th May 2008

Jamie Kesten, Head Coach of recently accredited Shenley Scorpions, commented: "Receiving Clubmark and Three Star Accredited status means a great deal to our club. Clubmark enables Shenley Scorpions to develop its own identity and profile as the most successful, longest-running, community and family oriented basketball club in Milton Keynes. In addition, Clubmark serves as recognition of all the hard work and commitment shown by all our volunteers, many of whom have been involved in the club for over 10 years. This award is dedicated to them and the parents, coaches and players of the past, present and future".



http://www.englandbasketball.com/news/default.aspx?newsid=1182

Shenley Scorpion Rob Loftman Point Guard for England U16s
Posted: 20^th May 2008

http://www.englandbasketball.com/news/default.aspx?newsid=1176

England U16s Fend Off Irish in Two Games in Birmingham
Posted: 6^th May 2008

http://www.englandbasketball.com/news/default.aspx?newsid=1165

Scorpions U13s lose out to MK Lynx U15s
Posted: 18^th May 2008

In another hard-fought game the U13s Shenley Scorpions side lost out to the MK Lynx U15s on their home court in a valliant effort which highlighted once again the teams need to play tougher man to man and more alert help defense.

Scorpions U13s out-hustled by AGS U14s
Posted: 11^th May 2008

Shenley Scorpions U13s Vs AGS U14s (17-58) LOSS

In a very disappointing loss in the first home friendly of the season Scorpions U13s put in a very lacklustre effort against a fired up and aggressive AGS U14s team. The full-court press defense of AGS was too much for the Scorpions to handle. However the game was not a total loss as the Scorpions clawed back some pride with some intense man to man pressure defense in the fourth quarter.

Scorpions U13s claim narrow victory against MK Speederz U15s
Posted: 27^th April 2008

Shenley Scorpions U13s Vs MK Speederz U15s (58-51) WIN

Playing away at Shenley Brook End School, although still very much close to home, Shenley fielded a balanced side for the second leg of its friendlies against MK Speederz U15s, leaving out several talented players who had not shown enough effort during practise. This made way for some of the younger and less experienced players to get involved and brought about a very close and exciting game of basketball which was eventually won by the Scorpions U13s despite some very valiant efforts on the part of their opponents.

Scorpions U13s rise to challenge of Hillingdon U15s
Posted: 19^th April 2008

Shenley Scorpions U13s Vs Hillingdon U15s (83-67) WIN

Travelling to Hayes Stadium in west London Shenley Scorpions U13s faced a tough game from a very physical London squad. However the team kept their composure and let their game do the talking for them. Scorpions big-man Morayo Soluade was leading scorer for the game with 26 points followed closely by Samuel Egedi (16 pts) and Cameron Thomas (13 pts). The victory made all the more sweet by the fact that the Scorpions had beaten a team with players up to 2 years older than them.

Shenley Scorpions dominate Lions
Posted: 30^th March 2008

Shenley Scorpions U13s Vs Sharnbrook Lions U13s (74-28) WIN

Travelling to Sharnbrook Upper School in a game that was pretty much over before it began Shenley Scorpions U13s made light work of their Sharnbrook Lions opponents. The game provided the team with a perfect chance to run out the bench and let everyone get involved in the action. By the end of the game every Scorpions player had got on the score-sheet in this 50 point blowout game.

Scorpions U13s learn valuable lesson against MK Lynx U15s
Posted: 15^th March 2008

Shenley Scorpions U13s Vs MK Lynx U15s (37-65) LOSS

In their first friendly fixture of the season Shenley Scorpions U13s faced MK Lynx U15s at Bletchley College. After putting up a good fight in the first two quarters which saw the first half finish with Shenley U13s trailing by only 3 points eventually the talent and experience of MK Lynx shone through and the game finished with Shenley Scorpions U13s losing 65-37. The loss, although hard to take for some, was an eye-opener for the team who realised that resting on your laurels will not help you against a tougher opponent.