Eagle Soars Into Excelsior Academy
Tuesday, 9th March, 2010
The Newcastle Eagles flew to victory this Sunday beating the Sheffield Sharks 99-79, Flournoy’s men dominated all the key battles, with Drew Sullivan posting his most impressive performance since returning to England, in silencing Sheffield Sharks play-maker Mike Cook.
The top scorers for the Eagles were: Jackson 24, Sullivan 23, Chapman 18, the scorers for Sheffield sharks: Toney, 22 Cook, 14 Gorman, 13.
The win took Newcastle Eagles to the top of the league table, ahead of Sheffield Sharks. Flournoy was interviewed after the game
“I would say it was almost the perfect weekend- we did not play all that well throughout against Everton on Friday but apart from that it was all I could ask for”.
Newcastle produced wonderful, free flowing attacking basketball to delight a near-3000 crowd at the arena- which included Striker Darren Bent and defender Anton Ferdinand.
Also last Friday the Eagles took on Everton Tigers in the semi final of the BBL trophy. They secured a win with the score 91-96. The eagles have secured a place in the final for the sixth year running. The other two teams left in the tournament are the Cheshire Jets and MK Lions. The first leg was won by MK Lions with the score 80-79. The final will take place on Sunday 21st March 2010; it will be at the Guilford Spectrum.
The most successful basketball player/coach in the United Kingdom is the amazing Fabulous Flournoy. He grew up in New York City in the USA and lived with his mother who brought him up with his other siblings Precious, Calvin and Divine. He only started taking interest in basketball when he was 15 years of age because he needed a new pair of trainers and his mother could not afford to buy them for him. The only way he could have got the pair legally was to join his local basketball team. He joined and started to like it. He then went on to playing in high school, college and in university. Fabulous then found himself excelling at the sport and realised that he had a future in it.
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The 6ft 4inch player that’s weighs 210lbs played for his 1st British basketball team in 1996-2002 and the team was Birmingham Bullets. In his 1st British season of basketball he scored 8 points 6 rebounds and 2.5 assists and was the champion runner up in 1999-2002.
He went on to play for Sheffield Sharks in 2001-2002 and scored 7.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists, he was the conference title winner and champion runner up. After Sheffield Sharks he went on to play for Newcastle Eagles, and in 2001 he suffered a serious knee injury during a game. He became the head coach in 2002. He is now in his 8th season as head coach. In 2002-2003 they were in 4th position with 25 to 15 record.
In 2003-2004 season they were going down the league to 6th place with a 18-18 record, in 2004-2005 seasons they became better and were in 2nd position with 13-10 record and were the British basketball trophy winners and the British Basketball league champion winners. They became better the season after that and became the British Basketball winners with a 30-10 record and were the British Basketball League Cup Winners and Championship Winners.
Fab visited our office this week to answer some questions ......
What was it like growing up in the USA?
Fab: my child hood in the USA was like growing up any were else a was a whatever kid. My dad wasn’t around I was raised by my mum with my older brother, younger brother and sister.
Did You Like Any Other Sports?
Fab: I Don’t Really Like Any Other Sports Apart From Basketball, I Just Like Watching The Highlights Of Other Sports.
What gave you inspiration to join BBL?
Fab: I just wanted to play basketball, I progressed up through different teams. I moved to England and started playing professionally.
Did you like basketball when you were younger?
Fab: I didn’t really like basketball until I turned fifteen I only started playing for a pair of trainers then I became good at it so I decided to play it.
What did your parents think when you became an athlete?
Fab:My mum wasn’t too bothered as long as I kept out of trouble. I asked my mum to watch one of my games and I was going for a lay-up and I got fouled then my mum started screaming “That’s my baby you just knocked down.”
How would you inspire young children to play basketball?
Fab: Once I realised the importance of school incase basketball didn’t turn out for me, I travelled the world, use sport as a tool and if you can turn a hobby into a profession. “To see more and do more”.
Exclesior Press team: Sophie Reay, Georgia Stewart, Hannah Tilley, Abbie Nielsen, Natalie Ternent, Jennifer Robinson, Scott Clark, Jak Gibson, Shannon Docherty, Jade Henderson, Femi Adegunle, Tony Rowntree, Ryan Bates
