The Kent Crusaders men’s team has signed a trio of players including standout guard Robbie Parker. Parker is joined by Polish 6’7 big man Rafal Sojczynski and Jamie Bragan from Bath.

Parker averaged a team high 18 points last season, but only played 11 games in the 2007-08 campaign. He travelled to several try-outs with European professional clubs before Christmas and was only able to return from an injury sustained late in 2007 to help the team win two of the last three games and secure the spot in Division 2. Before that shortened season Parker played for Crusaders from 2004 to 2006 before spending a season at German club Freiburg.

“We witnessed Robbie’s impact on the team last season as we had a winning record in the games he played in, even as we struggled to a record of 10 wins and 19 losses for the season”, says Crusaders head coach Mads Olesen, “I’m extremely happy that we were able to sign Robbie to a contract for the full season, as he’s one of the best and hardest working players I’ve ever coached”.

Parker has been training with the team since the start of pre-season in July, and is excited about the upcoming season: “I’m looking forward to the new season with Crusaders. We have been working hard through the summer and with the new additions to the team we should be very competitive this year.”

The Crusaders have also secured the services of big man Rafal Sojczynski, 27, from Scottish National League club Grampian Flyers. Sojczynski, who has moved to the East Kent area to work as a physiotherapist, played division 1, 2 and 3 in his native Poland before moving to the UK.

“Rafal really fills a need for us”, says coach Olesen, “We don’t have a lot of big guys, so to have an experienced and good player like Rafal fall into our laps is really fortunate. He’s a big guy, but at the same time he’s very good technically, and I expect him to compete for a starting spot”.

“When I was in Poland I used to train every day and when I moved to the UK I missed playing hard like that”, says Sojczynski, “I’ve trained with the team for a couple of weeks now and I really like the intensity and I’m looking forward to the season.”

Jamie Bragan joins the Crusaders from Preston Pride, but he has had EBL Division 2 experience playing for the now defunct Bath Romans from 2004 to 2006. Bragan is waiting to join the RAF so he might not be with the team for the full season.

“Jamie is an athlete”, says coach Olesen about the 6’5 22 year old, “and tall athletic players are always welcome. Right now we’re still trying to establish which position he’ll play on the team, as he’s very versatile, but once he’s settled in, I’m sure we’ll see even better things from him than what he has already shown We don’t know how long he’ll be with us, but for as long as he’s here he’s an exciting signing”.

Crusaders former head coach and current director of basketball Jesse Sazant is excited about the new signings. He was the one who brought Robbie Parker to the club four years ago, and was instrumental to signing him this season: “Resigning Robbie was one of our key priorities for the off-season. He gives us a proven scorer at this level and will complement Canadian import Simon Mitchell very well. Jamie and Rafal give us some much needed size and athleticism.”

Next week the Crusaders will take part in a preseason tournament in Bristol, playing the division 1 hosts on Saturday night, while playing either Derby (Division 1) or Bristol 2 (Division 3) on Sunday.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 7th, 2008 at 9:52 pm and is filed under Team News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.