Cardinal Langley Basketball Match

Cardinal Langley Basketball Club (CLBC) played a Sports 4 All (SFA) select X1 in a friendly fixture on Sunday 9th August 2009 at Springhill Sports Centre. The aim was to promote community cohesion through the sport of Basketball to those living within the Black Minority Ethnic (BME) communities.

Dean Sorah of both Link 4 Life and CLBC commented,” I was aware of the work SFA undertakes at grassroots level. It was the ideal organisation for me to approach to enable me to reach out to the BME communities and get them interested and involved in playing Basketball.”

Asif Rafiq, the Chair of SFA, stated, “We have always enjoyed a good relationship with Link 4 Life and have got to know their coaches. After Dean approached us, we put the word out and managed to arrange a couple of training sessions. A few of the lads now wish to continue developing their skills in Basketball and we look forward to them doing that with CLBC.”

Hanief Mohammed, one of the organisers added, “Just watching CLBC moving the ball around and working as a unit was a good learning curve. We empower young men with key skills, such as team work, discipline and organisation skills, and hope they find them useful in the mainstream communities they live in. The bonus today was that some of these young men wish to develop their Basketball skills even further.”

Steve Lavallee who coaches both the junior and senior teams for CLBC commented, ”As a club it is important to stretch out to any hard-to-reach communities and invite men and women of all ages and backgrounds to come and enjoy a sport that can provide them with so many different skills. I am pleased after today’s event, that some lads from SFA will be visiting us and extend their skills and our club further.”

A further friendly fixture is being organised between the two organisations in November 2009. CLBC run their training sessions on Tuesdays 7-8 p.m. for Juniors and 8-10 p.m. for adults. The new season starts on the 1st September 2009. Anyone interested in learning and/or developing their skills in Basketball should contact Steve Lavallee onlavalleefamily@btinternet.com.

Sports For All run three sports clubs a week. They also act as mentors to two women’s clubs. Anyone interested in staying healthy by enjoying football, indoor cricket, Martial Arts and Basketball should contact hanief@sport4all.org.uk.

As for the match, it was played in a jovial atmosphere with both teams enjoying the spirit of the other. CLBC ran out winners 69-35, with John Howarth voted the man of the match for his outstanding all-round contribution.

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Any questions on the above, please contract Hanief Mohammed by email on either hanief@sport4all.org.uk or haniefmohammed@sky.com or 07949 197140