Barry Comprehensive School

Barry Comprehensive School teams from year 10, 11 and the Sixth Form reached the finals of the Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan basketball Competitions this year and all three teams won.

The finals were played after a number of league and play off games throughout the season, culminating in a finals day where the best two teams in each age group play off for the title.

Finals were played at the Welsh Institute for Sport, Cardiff with international referees and using electronic timing and scoreboards which most players do not have available at their school venue. Basketball has become very popular and successful in school over the last few years with the year 10 title being won for the last 4 years, year 11 for the last 3 years and the Sixth Form title for the last 2 years.

The year 10 team comfortably beat Fitzalan, ably led by Andrew Flynn with superb supporting performances from Rhys West, Chad Clark and Rhys Davies. All players fitted well into the system of play, adding to a solid team performance, showing that the regular training throughout the year has paid off.

The year 11 team beat a spirited team from Cathays High, a school who are developing their basketball talents, shown by including some year 9 and 10 pupils in their year 11 team. Notable performances from Curtis Matthews, Jo Wood and Lee Baldock added to a superb team win.

The Sixth Form narrowly beat a very organised team from Porthcawl, led by Jack Dyer, Nathan Hougham and Jacob Gray. The lead changed hands a number of times throughout the match with Barry working hard at their man to man defence to cancel out the Porthcawl attacks, eventually winning by 4 points in the last quarter. As the final hooter sounded, a very relieved Coach Coles and happy team took the title again, celebrating with complimentary Mcflurry ice creams on the trip back to Barry!

Such successes are due to the commitment and attitude shown by all players involved and the time and effort given after school by the PE staff and Coach Leighton Coles who has been running team coaching sessions on a regular basis each Tuesday and Wednesday since September. The target for next season must be to try a team from each age group to the county finals.