Bill Latham's letter from Spain #5
The past month has been full of basketball once again. This month a little bit more basketball than normal with both the qualifying tournament for the Champions Cup and the Kings Cup tournament (Top 8 teams in Spain). We have continued some good form since the Christmas break with some tough wins which has kept us at 2nd on the ladder and also came 3rd in the Kings cup. We are 4 losses behind 1st placed Fundosa in Madrid which is now out of our reach with only 3 games to go in the season.
The Champions Cup qualifying tournament was held in Italy by Santo Stefano.. This was a great tournament for the team here with some great success. We won the tournament not losing a game and this is only the second time that this team has qualified for the finals which are being held in Germany. At this tournament I received the Highest Point scorer averaging 30 points a game. I am looking forward to going to Germany as all the games there will be very tough and physically competitive. Three other Australians will be at the tournament playing in various teams and its always good to go up against team mates from the national team.
The Kings Cup is always a tough tournament as its the best 8 teams from Spain and its a knock out competition. Our first game was against Vigo and we won by 10 points right at the end of the game. Our second game we crossed with Fundosa, they played very well and we just couldn'tÃÂôt handle them. They shot at 90 percent for the game. Although we lost the semifinal game against fundosa we played Barcelona for 3rd place. The game started very physical which is how Barcelona always play. We took the lead early in the game and controlled the tempo for the last 3 quarters. At this tournament I also received the highest point scorer and was named in the All Star Five. Fundosa won this competition after beating Toledo in the Final, Shaun Norris another Australian was named MVP and was also named in the All Star Five.
In a weeks time i am making a flying (literally) visit home at Easter for my brother Adams wedding. I will be in Australia for just five nights before flying back to Sevilla (30 hours travel each way). Yahoo!...lucky me! Oh well i only have ONE brother!
The end of the season is coming up very quick with only 3 more season games to go. If we win all 3 games we will remain 2nd place and that is were we will finish. While focusing on winning the remaining games we are currently rebuilding the team with players sorting out contracts and the team looking for some more players to boost the current team. When the season finishes here I have 2 days in Sevilla before I fly out to Italy for an Australian Camp in Varese, from Italy we are going to Manchester, England for the Paralympic Cup hosted by the GB federation. From England I return home to join the NWBL (National Wheelchair Basketball League) season with the Wenty league Wheelkings.
While in Australia I am looking forward to catching up with Family and friends for the few months that I am there Before returning to Europe for the 2009-2010 season.
Regards
Bill Latham
Last Modified on 15/04/2009 15:39
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