This year has been a rebuilding year for Chiltern Men. Back in August/September 2007 it was evident that a few key players were moving on due to family commitments or moving out of the area, this meant playing in the tough Middlesex Central Venue League would not be possible. The team needed new players from the local area to bring new life to the club if we were to rebuild. To help with the numbers the men trained at the same time as the junior club members. With the help of Rod Cook coaching and a healthy number of junior members the club started to attract senior players from the local area. This was aided by people visiting the website www.chilternbasketball.co.uk.

I am glad to report that ten months on we have successfully swelled the numbers to make a strong men’s team again. The successful integration of both the seniors and juniors has not only helped the team rebuild, but we’ve seen some juniors really step up and proved they can play at a senior level. The progression of these players is critical for the clubs success.

This season has also seen a welcome return of some veteran players, absent for a few years. They have attended training as well as games over the course of the season. These individuals bring with them a wealth of experience and knowledge of the game, something that has aided our junior and inexperienced players. I hope this continues next season as this will be vital to the development of both players and team.

As for competitions the team entered into the Aylesbury central venue league (BJBL), where we played teams from Shenley, Aylesbury Dux and Aylesbury Grammar, in a round robin style tournament. We came second in the group league, finishing behind Aylesbury Dux, although we did beat them in the last game of the season, which was satisfying as we really started to gel as a unit rather than a group of individuals.

Training has been great fun this year with a complete mix of abilities it could have been difficult to maintain the numbers, especially as the number of competitive matches has been scarce. This has been down to the patients of seniors and the persistence of juniors at training. The format of training could change next year but I would like to see all of the juniors that have been happy to train with the seniors to continue to do so.

We will have one member of the squad moving on next year and that’s Tino Millar, who’ll be heading off to university. Tino has developed significantly over his time with Chiltern and with his success at the national school tournament I believe he’ll continue his winning ways at university. He won’t be too far away so I trust he’ll return occasionally to train with us. Good luck Tino.

Chiltern Men will return next season with a deeper squad of players who are more local to the club and we will be entering a team into the local league for the 08/09 season. I look forward to seeing you all next year for our return to local league basketball and more fun competitive training sessions.


Dave English
Men’s Coach