My European journey with the Ireland U-16 Women's team
We recently caught up with Ireland Under-16 Women’s Head Coach Andy Gill (pictured above) and asked him to take us through the whole process of first selecting players, and then moulding them into a team to represent Ireland at the 2017 Under-16 European Championships in Macedonia.
It’s a fascinating account of the work and dedication that both the coaches and players go through to even get to a finals tournament.
Andy starts from the very beginning;
“Following a successful 7th place finish at the Under 16 European championships in August 2015 I was given the opportunity to take another Under 16 women programme that would culminate in a 10th place finish in 2017.”
“The experience of the last programme definitely helped with selection, technical planning and organisation of meaningful international games which are so important at this level.”
“The selection process began at the Under 15 inter-regionals which were held in October 2015 at NUIG. This is where I met up with my 2 assistants who would be so important over the coming months.”
“Seamas Donnelly was with me for the last programme and has huge experience in the game, both as a coach and an administrator. Ian Lynch of Éanna and now at IT Carlow was an under-age international player himself and a real ‘basketball’ nut.”
“The coaching team complemented each other bringing different skills and qualities that enabled the programme to be such a positive experience. The management team was completed the following January with my team manager Kellie McCabe from Monaghan, a teacher and player who was outstanding in her organisation and as a ‘big sister’ to the players.”
“Darragh Kennedy from Limerick also joined the team at this time and was a joint Physio/conditioning lead. Darragh was professional in all that he did and also brought a wry sense of humour to the group.”
“The Elite Performance Committee was formed late that summer and Noreen O’Connell from UL was my link member. Noreen has been involved in sport administration for many years and was always supportive to everything that we did.”
The Coaching team
“At the inter-regionals we pre-selected a group to go to final trials and then held an open trial in late October. A final trial with 60 players then took place the following week and 36 players were selected to the Under 15 Ireland development squad. We met in November for our first session and held a residential in Gormanston in December 2015.”
“Practice took place every month with a 3-day camp in February 2016. The emphasis, with such a large group, was on development and key basketball concepts. Our technical programme looked at shooting, scoring, man-to-man defence, transition offence and defence, and offensive concepts such as spacing and movement off dribble penetration.”
“We also had an eye to when the team played meaningful fixtures with some hours spent on a technical plan. Very early on we decided that we were going to be a full court defensive team.”
“Our first international games were played against Scotland at the Oblate Hall at Easter in 216. We played 3 games, dividing the squad equally, and won them all in a convincing manner. Following these games we had to begin the process of reducing the squad and selected 26 to go forward to the summer programme.”
“In July we travelled to Luxembourg for 5 games, winning the 3 we played against there Under 15’s. The summer was completed with a residential at Gormanston and the squad was reduced again to 18. In our selection process we looked at the ability to play full court defence, have offensive capabilities, game sense and the potential to improve.”
Abbey Flynn in action
“Throughout the programme we were always looking for opportunities to play quality international games and were very lucky in the invitations we received. These games are so important as the difference between club/school games and the international arena is huge.”
“To this end we travelled to Minsk in December 2016 to play in a tournament against 3 A teams in Belarus, Poland and Lithuania. Although we lost all 3 games we were within 9 seconds of beating Lithuania and it was a tremendous experience playing teams at that level.”
“As we entered into 2017 our preparation and planning really increased in velocity and after a February half-term camp we further reduced the squad to 15. At this stage our emphasis was now on creating a ‘team’ and instilling the technical programme we would take forward to the European Championships in August. This was a return to Macedonia for me, only this time to the capital Skopje.”
“We travelled to Nottingham, England during Easter to play national league Under 18 teams and take a last look at the players before we made a final selection to 12, always the hardest part of the journey, with players so close to that elusive international cap. On our return we then announced the ‘final 12’ a week later.”
The fantastic Irish support
“However, after 6 weeks Sarah Dillon, one of our Point Guards who had only recently returned from an ACL operation did the same thing to her other knee. This was a cruel blow for Sarah but an opportunity for another player to replace her. Lauren Darcy, from the ‘fifteen’ returned to the team and was understandingly very happy.”
“The players then went on their 6 week exam break and we returned for a weekends practice before flying out to the Reze tournament in Nantes, France.”
“Despite losing all 4 games the quality of opposition was of a superb standard with all European A nations and other world powers like China and Argentina. We lost narrowly to China, by 30 to Croatia and then after leading the Netherlands by 3 at the half had an offensive meltdown losing by 25. Our last game was a re-match against Belarus and again despite leading at half-time we eventually lost by 8.”
“Great Britain under 16’s came to Dublin in July for a 2-game series and after forcing them into 83 turnovers in 2 games we won them both. With only 3 days rest we then flew to Brussels for an incredible 6 game series.”
“First up was the Dussman trophy in Luxembourg where we beat the hosts, lost by 5 to their Under 23’s and then after a first poor quarter lost to the Netherlands again. After a night in Brussels we flew to Kaunas, Lithuania to play in the Baltic Cup. Our first game was that night and we overcame Estonia by 9 after being down by 10 early on. The next day we played Estonia and within 5 minutes found ourselves down by 20. We then had an incredible surge of scoring and defence losing by 3 with a shot to tie the game which we could not get off on the buzzer. They went on to finish fourth in the A championships so this was a superb result. In our last game against the hosts we were down to 8 fit players and 1 forward and were heavily beaten. These 8 games in less than 2 weeks was great preparation for the Europeans and we decided to break for 2 weeks for both management and players to take a well-earned rest.”
“We returned for two practice weekends in August and also were witness to the incredible display by our Under 18’s in Dublin, which caught the imagination of not only supporters of Irish basketball, but also the wider sporting community. Then with our preparation complete we flew out to Macedonia for the experience of a lifetime for the players.”
“After a 2-day wait and two practice sessions we tipped off at 9 PM in the 8,000 seater national stadium against a European nation with a massive basketball pedigree, Slovenia. Despite a close first quarter we played way below our normal standards and lacked energy, losing by 20 to a team we could have beaten. The next game was against the minnows of Moldova and we ran put comfortable winners 89-15. The third game pitted us against Belgium, one of the pre-tournament favourites and again we played below our potential to lose 36-82.”
“The next game was a must win against the ever improving hosts Macedonia. We did not start well, perhaps a hangover to our game against Belgium but improved as the game wore on. We were up 3 with a quarter to go and then wore them down with our full court pressure to win 72-54.”
“Our last group game was against Ukraine and we still had a mathematical chance to go through. We started off with great intensity leading 28-19 at the half and by 2 going into the last quarter. Ukraine then pressed us off the court and we were unable to cope losing 68-46. This was the most disappointing game of the whole programme as we had prepared really well to cope with presses so it was a shock to the coaching team. However, we finished in 4th place which still gave us a chance to finish 9th.”
“The players then really stepped up their game in the next two play-of games beating Estonia again 70-45 and then after being 25-10 down against Switzerland in the second quarter won a nail biter 57-53. This meant we played Israel for 9th place and we continued our good form leading 14-6 after a quarter and down by 3 at the half. Unfortunately a poor third quarter cost us dear and despite only being 6 down with 5 minutes to play lost 66-54 meaning we completed the tournament in 10th place.”
Lauren Darcy in action
“We were all delighted with this position which represented the third best place finish of an Under 16 Ireland women team. The commitment of the players and parents over the course of the programme was magnificent and wherever we went there was always a contingent of green in the crowd.”
“All 36 players who began the journey to the 12 who made the last group displayed an amazing attitude and willingness to learn. The players represented their country with passion, heart, skill and a willingness to play ‘hard’ whatever the score. We all had an experience we would treasure for many years to come.”
Ireland Under 16 Team 2017
1. Abby Flynn- Waterford Wildcats. St Ursulines Convent, Waterford. HT-Waterford
2. Alex Mulligan- Blackwater Steelers. St Louis, Monaghan-HT- Glaslough, Monaghan
3. Anna Lynch- Father Matthews. Colaiste An Phairsaigh, Glanmire, Cork-HT-Monkstown,Cork
4. Ciara Bracken- Liffey Celtic. Coláiste Chiaráin, Leixlip-HT- Leixlip, Co. Kildare
5. Ciara White –Oblates. Loreto College, Crumlin, Dublin-HT-Crumlin, Dublin
6. Erin Maguire- Ulster Elks. Ulidia Integrated School, Carrickfergus-HT-Newtownabbey, Antrim
7. Katie Walshe- Father Matthews. Regina Mundi College, Cork-HT- Douglas, Cork
8. Katie Williamson- Liffey Celtic. Colaiste Pobail Setanta, Clonsilla, Dublin-HT- Clonee, Dublin
9. Lainey Nolan- Father Matthews. Scoil Mhuire, Cork-HT-Monkstown, Cork
10. Mia Furlong- Glanmire. Glanmire Community College, Glanmire, Cork-HT-Glanmire, Cork
11. Niamh Kenny- DCU Mercy. Holy Faith Clontarf, Dublin-HT-Artane, Dublin
12. Sarah Dillon- Liffey Celtic. Mercy SS Ballymahon, Longford-HT-Rathconrath, Mullingar. Replaced by Lauren Darcy after the Reze tournament
13. Lauren Darcy- Templelogue, Our Lady’s School, Terenure
Photo Credit: FIBA
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