It's Reigning Scotland caps!

Published 29 May 2012 09:30 2 Comments

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Pictured are Stewart Morgan (No 9 in picture), Jake Sirrell (No 7) and Craig Ferguson (No 6).

DUNFERMLINE Reign's league season may have come to an end but three of their young basketball stars will have to play on for another month as they have been selected to represent Scotland in their age group - the international under-14 team.

Stewart Morgan, Jake Sirrell and Craig Ferguson all recently made the final cut when the squad was reduced to its final 15 players.

All three will now go on to represent their country in an invitational tournament in Edinburgh from 8th-10th June. It is a great honour for the players and for Reign, who can boast that they make up one fifth of the entire team - quite an achievement.

The trio were all key players in Reign's under-16 team that finished third in the National League Division 2 this season.

They all return for the under-16s for the next two seasons and are hoping to lead Reign into Division 1.

They are pictured with their coach at Reign, Darryl Wood.

In addition to playing with Reign this season they all also took part in basketballscotland's Future Starz programme that identified talented 11-14-year-olds from across Tayside and Fife and worked with them to help develop their skills and knowledge of the game.

It was from there that the trio progressed into the national under-14 trials and after many gruelling training sessions and cuts, made the grade for their first official caps.

Reign have always had a proud history of producing players for the Scotland national side and the guys are an addition to a long list of capped Reignmen, including former Scotland captain and now Reign coach, James Steel, and most notably Robert Archibald who recently announced that he will retire from professional basketball after he represents GB in this Summer's Olympic Games.

Like Steel and Archibald before them, Morgan and Sirrell are both pupils at Queen Anne High School, the home of Dunfermline Reign, which through the dedicated work of veteran coach Neil Thomson continues to produce top-class players. Ferguson is the sole representative on the squad from Stewarts Melville College.

Paul Boath, head coach of the Scotland under-14 team, said, "Stewart, Jake and Craig have been a great addition to this year's national team programme and are vital to the team's success. They have worked extremely hard and are a great credit to Dunfermline Reign Basketball Club.

"It's great to see so many players from Reign, who are a club with a great history, and I hope the boys are the first of a new era of national team players from the area."

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Fergusonj999
1 post
May 29, 17:33
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Congratulations to all three on your selection for Scotland and best of luck at the tournament on 8-10 June. Hopefully your match against England under 14 will be played at Meadowbank after the GB v Canada Womans match and there is a big crowd to cheer you on.

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hmfcmf
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May 29, 20:22
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Well done boys for making the Scotland squad, all the hard work has paid off.

Good luck to the U14 teams at the Summer Slam tournament in Edinburgh, I'm sure you will make us all proud

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