College and Giants set up academy

OLDHAM College has teamed up with Manchester Giants to launch a new basketball academy.

Students will get top-level coaching from players, an insight into the club and help to get into sport as a career.

Phase one of the academy will start in September with opportunities for work experience with the team, some coaching and student visits to the team’s new training base at Trafford Soccerdome.

The full basketball academy for 16 to 19-year-olds will launch at Oldham College in September 2015. Students will undertake a BTEC level three extended diploma in sport and four hours of coaching a week, sports conditioning sessions, game analysis sessions and the opportunity to complete coaching qualifications. They can also represent Oldham College in the British Colleges League.

Oldham College already has football and rugby academies and principal Alun Francis said: “This is great news for Oldham. Working with employers and proposed partners, means that our students get the opportunity to understand the industry as a whole.”

Manchester Giants was originally established in 1975 and attracted crowds of up to 15,000 in the late 1990s. The club folded nine games into the 2001-2 season. The franchise was resurrected and re-entered the league last season, finishing seventh.

The club already has basketball academies at Myerscough College in Preston, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester College and St Peter’s High School in Manchester.

Graham Herstell, director of basketball at Manchester Giants, said: “We are really excited about our new partnership. The Giants and college together can be a valuable stage on the road to great things for aspiring young players.”