The Kent Crusaders National League men’s team that have started preparing for the new season and have announced that they’re bringing back the core of last years team.

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The Kent Crusaders Premier League Under 18’s team will hold open trials at Simon Langton Boys School on Saturday 28 June from 12.00 noon to 14.00pm.

The trial is open to all players.

There is a £3 fee to participate in the trials.

Summer Camp 2008
18-22 August

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East Kent Crusaders junior Kalil Irving has been named in the England Under 16 squad preparing for the 2008 European Championships. Irving, a 6′2 guard, currently plays for the Crusaders Under 16 team as well as training with the Kent Crusaders men’s team. Crusader’s head coach Mads Olesen has been impressed by Irving noting, “Kalil has joined the men’s squad with full commitment to work hard and develop his game to prove he can play at this level.”

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Just a quick update on the new site, its nearly complete and ready to use. A few more pages to be added and a few changes here and there (including updating the forum). The site should be fully complete by the end of the week, if not before.

If you have any photos from Crusaders games please e-mail them to greg@gregfindley.com, so I can create some more graphics for the site.

Thanks, Greg

If you are a member of Facebook, why not Join the Kent Crusaders group? You’ll get get news and game invites – just search for Kent Crusaders, under the Groups section.

The Body and Mind Kent Crusaders basketball coach Jesse Sazant has announced that he will step down as coach of the Crusaders senior team.

The Canadian Coach, who became the senior side’s coach in 2004, will be replaced by the Crusaders’ assistant coach Mads Olesen, originally from Denmark.

Sazant, who has become a director of basketball with the Crusaders, has vowed to remain heavily involved in the development of the sport in Kent, however he felt that he was no longer able to devote the amount of time to the squad necessary to realise the team’s long term ambitions:

“It was incredibly tough to decide to step down as Crusaders head coach. The club is something I have played a major part in building and felt that I couldn’t find the time to meet the high standards I expect.” (more…)

Ryan Richards is the finest young basketball player that Kent has produced in recent years and is Kent’s best chance for representation in both the elite NBA and the GB Basketball team at the 2012 Olympics.

Ryan, who first played elite basketball with the Kent Crusaders, now plays his basketball full time with Spain’s Gran Canaria where he has quickly become a key member of their under 16 and 18 squads. Last season, while still only 14, Ryan regularly featured for the Crusaders men’s teams quickly earning his teammates and opponents respect.

Basketball is a much bigger sport in Spain than it is in Britain, with both Real Madrid and Barcelona fielding professional basketball sides. Richards has shown a huge improvement already after accepting the scholarship to Gran Canria’s academy. Recently he top scored with 33 points heling the Gran Canria regional team to a national championship.

Ryan, now 15 and originally from Sittingbourne, came back to Britain recently and we took the opportunity to talk to him first time about life in Spain:

How does playing in Spain compare to playing in England?

I’ve been in Spain for about six months now and it’s been great. Things are a lot different over here and it’s a whole different culture. We train here everyday and at first I struggled a bit with it. There’s a lot of lifting weights and I’ve improved a lot physically and my game has come on a lot. Living on my own in a different country has been good for me and I feel I’ve improved both as a player and as a person.

What’s it been like getting used to life in Spain – have you learned the language?

I’m still learning the language but Canaria has loads of guys from all over the world, from places like the Czech Republic and Somalia and most of them speak pretty good English so it’s been alright so far.

And the food?

The food’s alright, most of the time we’re on a special diet to help us put on weight but on Sundays we get to eat traditional food like Paella.

What do you hope to do next?

Well I want to go North and get a contract with one of the big clubs like Barcelona or Real Madrid, they have the same badge and everything as the football clubs. Then I want to go to America to one of the colleges and finally to the NBA!

Good luck with that!

Thanks

What’s it like being back in the UK?

Cold! It feels very cold over here. I’ve been training with the guys (Kent Crusaders) and it felt good to be back, although all the plays have changed and I didn’t really know what was going on.

What are the coaches like in Spain?

The training in Spain is really good, I’m stronger a lot faster and my fundamentals have improved a lot

Does your new coach shout as much as Jesse? (Jesse Sazant, Kent’s head coach)

(Laughs) No, no one shouts as much as him!