The Didsbury High School (DHS) Under 16 Basketball team finished in the top 4 teams in the country in Basketball England’s Dynamik National Schools competition.
Each year, the Dynamik National Schools competition sees around 100 schools competing to progress through different rounds.
The DHS team topped the preliminary round, made up of 6 teams, and then played two games in the zone round, beating teams from Durham and Sheffield.
Continuing their win streak into the regional rounds, they beat schools from Bedfordshire and Worcester.
This took them through to the national quarter final in Worcester to play Christopher Whitehead College (CWC).
A strong performance at the quarter final
The pressure was on as the U16s arrived in Worcester for the quarter final.
After a slow start and even going down by 8 points early on, the boys rallied back to end the first quarter down by 1 point, 23-22.
It was clear that CWC were a very well drilled team with lots of talent and it appeared the game would be just as close all the way to the end.
However, a rally in the final 5 minutes of the half saw the boys take the lead and blow it open to 15 points at half time.
An even stronger start to the third quarter saw the lead balloon to 27, With Nathan B running riot on his way to game high 60 points!
This push was further fueled by James and Dylan, who brought incredible effort off the bench and kept the energy high.
The fourth quarter started well, but with nothing to lose, CWC threw everything at us.
The score narrowed to 15 but team captain Nathan stepped up to steady the ship and kept his cool, hitting a number of key free throws to see out the game and take the win.
The win marked a small piece of history for Didsbury High School, booking their place in the National Semi final against Bristol Metropolitan College (BMC) on Wednesday 1st May.
A close game in the semi final
For the semi final, the DHS boys faced BMC, a team who are regulars at this point in the competition and boast three international players.
Despite knowing the odds were against them, team DHS refused to give up and showed incredible resilience to push BMC right to the wire.
Going down by double digits on more than one occasion, they repeatedly pulled themselves back into the game, getting within 3/4 points each time.
The atmosphere was electric as staff and students cheered the DHS team on at their home ground.
Unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be this time, with BMC taking the win.
The DHS boys narrowly missed out on the finals, losing by just 5 points to BMC with a finish of 64-69.
Although they didn’t win this time, they left with their heads held high, finishing as one of the top 4 teams in the nation!
Mr Steer, team coach and Teacher of PE, said:
“The boys have been a credit to themselves and the school throughout the tournament. They have walked in to some incredibly intimidating atmospheres and taken everything in their stride, with everyone contributing along the way. The best part about coaching this team is watching the role players play their role without moaning and stepping up when we need them; it’s been one of the biggest reasons we’ve got to this point. Myles and Isaac who are both only in Year 9 have also been brilliant for us. One thing is always certain with this team and that is that they never give up. Not only are they an incredibly talented bunch who consistently display our DHS qualities on court, they represent us exceptionally well off the court with their conduct and manners.”
We’d like to thank everyone who has supported the boys throughout this competition and say a huge congratulations to the team for making it this far!
They have shown impressive teamwork and represented our school with pride in all of their games, well done boys!