Bucknall “Hopeful” Despite Injuries

England Under-18 head coach Steve Bucknall is “hopeful” his side can perform at the Division B European Championships in Varna, Bulgaria, despite having been plagued by injuries and withdrawals.

Speaking to the England Basketball website, he admits preparation for the Europeans hasn’t gone well:

“The preparation didn’t really go according to plan. We’ve had injuries and kids pulling out from the programme, but those who are left have come through well. We had ten tough days in Belgium, and we suffered some more injuries there, but we’re taking the best available team. The team has picked itself, really.”

“I hope that we can compete in every game. That needs to be our goal, but the guys have done a lot of hard work and there’s no reason why we can’t do that.We’ve done a lot of fitness work, and that was important as we look to cope with the speed of the games and the intense heat we’re going to face – that is going to be a big factor.

“We’ve got a young, inexperienced team, but they’ve worked very hard and I hope we can raise our game.”

The team tips off their campaign on Thursday where they face off against Estonia, before taking on Belgium, Denmark and Portugal in consecutive days, aiming for a top two finish in the group to progress to the quarter finals.

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