GB Announce Preliminary 19-man U20 Roster

By Bradley Gains on May 22, 2015

Great Britain have announced an initial 19-man roster ahead of this summer’s Under-20s European Championships.

Luke Nelson (pictured) and Kavell Bigby-Williams are the notable returnees to the squad, while Ben Lawson, Luke Mascall-Wright and Tamas Okros were also part of the squad that achieved an 11th place finish last summer.

There are also call-ups for five members of England’s under-18 squad that competed at the European Championships in Turkey last summer including Jules Dang Akodo and Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye.

It was confirmed earlier in the year that the coaching staff of Douglas Leichner, and his assistants James Vear and Andreas Kapoulas would all return, and the Head Coach is pleased with his squad.

“We really feel that we have a great understanding of the players that are available for selection,” said Leichner. “It is a long process and it gives all of these players opportunities.

“They may not know they are being evaluated, but with the internet, various media resources, watching in person, video and so forth, we have a great knowledge of the players and I’m confident that we have a really talented group.

“The camp is always very intense. It’s competitive and it’s tough to even get invited and then once you are in there, you are fighting for one of the spots and it’s a very competitive situation.”

The GB U20 roster in full:

Kavell Bigby-Williams, Gilette College (US)
Jules Dang Akodo, Fraport Skyliners Frankfurt (Germany)
Ajou Deng, St Thomas More Oakdale (US)
Pharroh Gordon, College of Saint Rose (US)
Gregor Gray, Team Northumbria/Newcastle Eagles
Tyrell Isaacs, London Greenhouse Pioneers
Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye, Bristol Academy Flyers
Ben Lawson, Western Kentucky University (US)
Fraser Malcolm, FSU Selfoss Karfa (ISL)
Luke Mascall-Wright, Ipswich
Aaron Menzies, Seattle University (US)
Josh McSwiggan, Loughborough/Leicester Riders
Luke Nelson, UC Irvine (US)
Sam Newman, Ipswich
Tamas Okros, Bristol Flyers
Nathan Smith, Kent Crusaders
Morayo Soluade, Clinicas Rincon/Unicaja Malaga (Spain)
Deane Williams, Bristol Flyers
Jordan Williams, KBGO Duva Oostende (Belgium)

GB begin the tournament in Italy, on July 7th, against Turkey with Lithuania, Slovenia and Germany also in their group.

Here is their schedule in full:

Preparation Camp Induction – 18/06/15

Preparation Tournament (Girona)

26/06 v Poland 17:00
27/06 v Belgium 16.00
28/06 v Spain 11.00

U20 European Championship First Round

07/07/15 v Turkey 17.45
08/07/15 v Slovenia 15.30
09/07/15 v Germany 13.15
11/07/15 v Lithuania 17.45

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