Bristol Flyers - Around the Club Saturday 28th September 2019

This weeks home highlight is a trio of season openers at WISE on Saturday. Bristol Flyers Under 16 Boys tip the day off against Reading Rockets at 1.00 pm, followed by Bristol Flyers Under 18 II against Bristol Storm at 3.00 pm and then Bristol Flyers’ Women host Ipswich at 5.15 pm. With free entry all day please come along and support the Flyers!

Bristol Flyers II

Bristol Flyers II will start their first season in NBL Division 2 with a road game against Charnwood College Riders on Saturday October 5th 2019. Their home debut will have to wait until the following weekend when they host crosstown rivals Bristol Hurricanes at the SGS WISE campus. The team will be looking to continue the momentum from back to back promotion winning seasons into the new challenges of this year.

Returning favorite Roy Owen will refocus on playing as Chris Bourne takes over from him as head coach for the team. The programmes strong links to the SGS Academy and UWE Jets programs will continue into the new season. New UWE Jets head coach George Varney will join Flyers II as assistant coach. Longstanding UWE and Flyers II veterans like Jack Craggs will also return. They will be joined by incoming players from SGS including Marvin Dinnall and Maciej Gniady. Former Flyers juniors Aiden Khan, Bruce Adjei and Pasquale Landolfi are all returning to the fold. First team veteran Asa Waite is also returning to the club and will bring valuable experience of having played with the team in NBL Division 1.

Bristol Flyers Women

Flyers Women will start their defence of their WNBL Division 1 title this weekend. New head coach Pedro Vega Fuentes will make his debut against Ipswich basketball on Saturday. With news of veteran player and defensive stalwart Liisa Juul stepping down and last years top scorer Cristina Bigica moving up to the WBBL the team will have to find ways to win without those key players. However a strong core of experienced players from last years’ campaign will be back including Caption Fiona Fox, Flo Ward, Mai Zilbeti, Hannah Wallace and Erin Hunter.

Last season Flyers had mixed results against the talented young Ipswich team, winning convincingly on the road early on but then dropping the home leg 66-83 in January. Flyers will look to start their season with a solid home performance and the support of the rest of the club will be crucial to getting their season off on the right foot!

Bristol Flyers Under 18 Men I

The Under 18 first team will also wait until October 5th to start their season. They will once again compete in the Central Premier division of the junior NBL. Ieuan Jones has taken over as head coach for the team, bringing with him several players from last seasons U16 premier team. Thomas Browne, Nassim Ladjimi, Louie Tucker and Louis Weaver are pulling double duties, training alongside the Division 2 Men’s team.

While the D2 men are travelling to Leicester to play Charnwood College Riders the U18 squad will host Charnwood at the WISE campus.

Bristol Flyers Under 18 Men II

Well many teams have one more week to prepare the U18 conference squad have a packed opening weekend. With Coach Bourne taking on the D2 team the U18 conference team will play under the guidance of BBL veteran Chris Taylor. The first time head coach will lead them through another year in the South West Conference. With the core of last years team in place to provide continuity they will face local rivals Bristol Storm for their first league game at 3.00 pm today.

They are straight back in action at WISE in the U18 National Cup the following day against Plymouth Raiders, 2.00 pm tip.

Bristol Flyers Under 16 Boys

Coach Darren Oakey takes over the Under 16 premier group this year. It is a new beginning for Coach Oakey after guiding a core group of young players through from Under 16s to Under 18s over his preceding 3 winning seasons. He will be joined on the bench by Coach Christian Hill, who mentored many of the players through their campaign in U14 last season.

The U16 boys have a similarly busy start to the season with two games on the opening weekend. They will host Reading Rockets in back to back fixtures at WISE this weekend, first a league game at 1.00 pm on Saturday and then in the U16 National Cup at 12.00 pm on Sunday.

Bristol Flyers Under 16 Girls

The U16 Girls hosted WEBBA team Trowbridge Phoenix Flames for a pre-season friendly on Wednesday and won a 48-25 victory. With Coach Vega Fuentes taking over the women’s team it was an early test for incoming Coach John McLaren. He matched his girls against Emma Seria-Walker (who is the U14 girls coach) and her senior women’s team. They showed their readiness for a second competitive season in the junior NBL with the victory.

With a restructure of the age group seeing the end of the South West Conference the girls will compete in the newly formed Central Conference this season. The team has more time to prepare for the season ahead with their first game falling on Saturday October 12th away against Winchester City Royals.

Bristol Flyers Under 14 Boys

Cormac O’Callaghan returns to the club to take over as head coach of the Under 14 Boys having completed his studies at the University of Worcester. The boys will once again compete in the Premier South division of the junior NBL. They open their season on the road against Islington Panthers on Saturday October 5th.

Bristol Flyers Under 14 Girls

Coach Seria-Walker has an exciting new challenge as the rapidly growing girls programme enters a second team into the junior NBL. The Under 14 Girls will compete in the South Conference for their first National League season. They will make their debut away against Winchester City Royals on Saturday October 5th.