A New Womens' Team
What will this mean for womens' and girls' basketball in the city?

A whole new direction, and a concerted effort at promoting basketball to girls and women in Plymouth and the surrounding areas. Thats what we are promising in the future. The Racers have done a really good job in the past, but we're hoping that the Raiders' name, together with our experience of running a successful development programme will help us grow the popularity and interest in the game with girls and women.

Girls' basketball in Plymouth has a rich tradition that not many people know about. Richard Sunderland, a teacher at Devonport High School for Girls was responsible for the school's terrific success in the England Schools competition in the early '90s, and many of the Racers players of the past and present have come from DHSG. Thats how the Racers were born - the girls left school, and instead of letting all that talent, enthusiasm and ability go to waste, a senior womens' team was created. Richard started the Racers and after several years, Leigh Robinson (present Raiders II coach) took over coaching the team. When Leigh left to join the Raiders development programme, Julie Pinch took over the player coach responsibilities, and just this summer, as Julie took the decision to retire, Christie Robinson (wife of Leigh), a Racers player, took over as coach. The team discussed the opportunity to become part of the Raiders, and decided that they'd go for it... and Raiders Women were born.

The team have tasted life in Division 1 of the national league, and our aim is to get them back there again. We want to do it the right way though. There would be no point in gaining promotion one year to get badly beaten every game and come right back down again. We need a constant supply of girls skilled in basketball fundamentals, who have gained experience at national league competition. We need qualified coaches to give as many girls as possible the opportunity to play the game at a recreational level as well as national league junior level.

This is why we decided to start the junior girls' teams this year. We'll have an Under 14 training squad, and Under 16 and Under 18 teams playing in national league competition. Realistically, we know that this will likely be a baptism of fire, and that we're entering teams into very established leagues. But we need to start somewhere, and the teams are enthusiastic and have been workng very hard.

We would love to see the girls moving from the Under 18s up to Raiders Women, and being able to contribute right away. We'd love Raiders Women to be playing in Division 1, with both the more established players and the younger players learning, improving and holding their own against the best teams in the country. With our links to Marjons and the University of Plymouth, the Raiders name along with a competitive team will also help encourage more players to the city to pursue an education and play basketball while theyre doing so.

On the back of the new teams, we now have a fantastic opportunity to make basketball one of the most popular sports to participate in among girls and women in Plymouth. We want to work in schools and actively promote the opportunities to play. We'd like to bring groups of schoolgirls to Raiders Women games to get them interested in the sport. We have some very good schools and excellent sports teachers in the area, but the more assistance we can give them with providing additional coaching the better it will be.

Some 20 years ago, Plymouth had a much bigger local league than we do at present. In the late 80s, there were 2 junior leagues, a women's league and either 2 or 3 men's leagues. We'd like to see the local league back at this level again, but along with it, we'd work to ensure there was a junior girls' league.

The future for girls' and womens' basketball in the area is really bright, but to get to where we need to be, there needs to be a lot of hard work, some lows as well as highs, but more than anything, we need enthusiastic and committed people helping to enure we're going the right way. Not just players and coaches, but administrators, team managers, parents who want their daughter to get something out of basketball.