England U16 Final Squad Named

By Sam Neter on August 5, 2013

Head Coach Andreas Kapoulas has announced his twelve-man final roster that will represent England at the FIBA Europe Under-16 European Championship Men Division B in Sarajevo starting on Thursday.

The 1997 born squad that will be led by the likes of Josh Steel, Calvin Kintu and Aiden Gastaldi Davies, is boosted by the additions of ’98 borns Carl Wheatle, Luke Mitchell and big men Sam Japhet-Mathias and Freddue Ratliff.

The full squad is as follows –

England Under-16 Final Roster

Marko Backovic, Sheffield Sharks
Joshua Foulds, City of Birmingham
Aiden Gastaldi-Davies, Hertfordshire Warriors
Sam Japhet-Mathias, Peckham Pride
Calvin Kintu, NASSA
Ryan Knowles, Cheshire Jets
Luke Mitchell, Notts Nova
Freddie Ratliff, Ipswich
Joshua Steel, Barking Abbey
Denzel Ubiaro, Westminster Warriors
Carl Wheatle, London Pioneers
Akwasi Yeboah, NASSA

“We have a great group of players, very committed, hardworking and really focused in representing their country to their best of their ability,” said Kapoulas on announcing his squad. “The junior European championships give the opportunity to young athletes to experience a higher level of competition and test themselves against Europe’s best players and teams. It is a great experience and definitely a key moment in a player’s development.

“At this level all teams are of a high quality so you cannot underestimate anyone. If you do, you can pay the price.

“In terms of expectations, our ultimate goal is a medal and promotion to Division A however with European Championship competitions a lot is about momentum and getting it right when it matters. Our first goal is to secure one of the top two spots in our group. The next one is to secure a place in the top 4 teams of the competition and then the medal. It’s almost like you have 3 competitions in 1.”

Pointing to the England Under-18s’ solid showing in Division A this summer and the Great Britain Under-20s gaining Division A promotion, Kapoulas added:

“It has been a great summer for the youth national teams so far and we hope August proves as successful!”

Rising star Josh Steel also provided his thoughts: “The warm-up games have been a good test to see how much we are improving as a team, and as a way to see where we might measure in the championships. I believe despite results we have shown that we are improving we just need to be more consistent.”

The Under-16s open up against Romania in Group B on Thursday, and Steel says the two teams have unfinished business.

“Romania is a big game for me in my mind,” he added. “Me and Marko [Backovic] lost to a few of those guys in the finals in a 3×3 tournament in Ankara in 2011 so there is a score to settle.”

Also in England’s group are Ireland, Switzerland and Slovenia.

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