GB Senior Training Camps to be Held at University of Worcester

British Basketball has announced that the University of Worcester will be the training and preparation venue for the 2014 senior squads.

Next month, the Great Britain senior women’s squad will descend on the University of Worcester Arena for the start of their preparation programme in advance of their EuroBasket qualifier campaign which will also tip-off in the same venue on Sunday, 8 June.

Following the women’s campaign, the senior men’s squad will also be put through their paces in Worcester in July and August as they too are tasked with qualifying for EuroBasket 2015 which is due to take place in Ukraine. The men however, will be playing their two home games at the Copper Box, in London.

With access to high-performance facilities and support networks, Sinéad Gordon, Head of Basketball Operations at British Basketball believes that the 2000-seat University Arena is the perfect venue for the hosting of international basketball.

“We have worked very closely with the University of Worcester Arena and their Institute of Sport and Exercise Science in ensuring that the teams will still have access to the best preparation programme on offer, despite recent funding cuts,” said Gordon.

“It will become the home of British Basketball this summer and indeed the home court for the Senior Women’s team as it provides a competitive venue that meets the FIBA Europe standards required in the hosting of EuroBasket Qualification games.”

As the University of Worcester Arena celebrates being one year old this month, it can only look back positively on the past year as it now provides top-class facilities and support in areas such as performance analysis, fitness and nutritional advice to a number sports from community level to elite and professional level.

Currently, the University of Worcester provides the home venue for the BBL’s Worcester Wolves basketball team and the training base for British Wheelchair Basketball, as well as being the venue for a wide range of memorable sporting events including being selected to host the 2015 European Wheelchair Basketball Championships.

“We are proud to be hosting the GB teams here at Worcester this summer. It is a huge honour to have been selected as the training and competition venue for British Basketball and is testament, not only to the quality of the our new Arena, but also to the work of the University’s Institute of Sport Science in supporting and leading the way in high-performance sport,” Professor David Green, University of Worcester Vice Chancellor, said.