Basketball England's decision to initially to suspend all basketball in England for two weeks, starting on Friday, 13th March, was later extended to the cancellation of the 2019/20 season in total.
The Youth Basketball League (YBL) followed suit immediately and then later advised that the entire 2019/20 YBL season had been declared "Null & Void" meaning that no match results would be recorded within the YBL's records.
However, here at Leadonites Basketball we still count every match played as valid and meaningful. In our previous post we have shown all of our fixtures from last season - the good, the bad and the down-right ugly! Now it's time to post the league standings at the point that the season ended...
UNDER 17 A-SQUAD
The A-Squad was made up mainly of year 12 players but with injuries and resignations from the squad a couple of year 11 were brought in by coach Jack Powell to beef up the numbers.
Playing in the YBL U17 North Division the A-Squadders started the season off with a club record victory both in the number of points scored but also in the overall margin of victory with a 124-24 home victory over Yardley Defenders. After this the pattern of the season developed into the A-Squadders always being competitive but struggling to close out close out matches and a string of close defeats left the team lower in the league placings than their ability should have made them.
Eventually, the head-to-head victory over WBA D-Squad meant that so long as they completed their final regular season match away at Walsall 99ers the A-Squad would have qualified for the post-season play-offs in fourth place. In that quarter final they would have been away to Coventry Tornadoes in a 'lose and and your season is over contest'.
UNDER 17 D-SQUAD
The D-Squad was made up mostly of year 11 (under 16) players together with the year 12 players who were not deemed good enough to get reasonable gae time minutes playing in the A-Squad.
Despite the year 11s coming off a winning season in their U15 year the previous season there were no pre-season great hopes of a winning season in 2019/20. However, an opening day shock home victory over Hereford Hornets by a 7-point margin raised hopes. These hopes were soon dashed as several heavy defeats followed. An overtime victory away at Worcester Wolves, a hard fought tactically smart home victory over Stourport Spartans and a home defeat on the final buzzer of overtime at home to Bournville were the highlights of a difficult season.
The strengths of the season were the new year 11 players who joined the club as the season wore on.
UNDER 15 A-SQUAD
Ultimately this has to go down as a disappointing season for the U15 A-Squad. Pre-season high hopes eventually gave way to the team struggling for players by the later stages; a surprise away defeat after overtime against a Bromsgrove Bears team who had been comfortably dispatched earlier in the season at home eventually summing up what could and possibly should have been.
Certain players emerged with much credit whilst others should question whether they really want to play basketball and if they do then how they can better contribute to supporting the efforts of their coaches and those players who are properly committed to the team.
UNDER 15 D-SQUAD
Made up of mostly year 9 (under 14) players plus players who chose to step down from the A-Squad in search of more game time minutes. A horrible season littered with heavy defeats against unforgiving opposition coaches. The upside is the strength of character shown by the players week after week. If these boys can come through a season like last then they should be able to overcome anything else life throws at them.
UNDER 13s
Pre-season saw the departure of several players from the YBL U13 squad which resulted in a heavy opening day defeat for a team composed of just 7 players, two of who were year 5s, one year 6 and four year 8s and playing the best team in the age group! Things got markedly better with some rushed recruitment. The following matches saw the U13s handsomely beat a visiting Worcester Wolves team followed by an away win at Worcester Bears; the first time that a Leadonites team has ever beaten a same age Bears team!
Results were up and down after this with defeat at home to the auld enemy Gloucester Saxons, a win at home over Stourport Spartans Girls U14, a win away against Gloucester, a defeat away at Stourport Spartans and a defeat away against Worcester Wolves. Ultimately with just two matches remaining (the table below is incorrect and should show Leadonites having played 8 games and with 16 points) our youngsters only had to win one of their remaining two matches (home Vs Worcester Bears and away @ Stourport Spartans Girls U14) to qualify for the post-season play-offs.
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