June 9, 2021, by Mathilde Tighe

UoN Men’s and Women’s Basketball to compete in The Nottingham Games this Sunday

Since 2004, each year the University of Nottingham competes against Nottingham Trent University in the Varsity series. Basketball was one of the founding Varsity sports and is always very competitive and exciting to watch!

Unfortunately, due to the global pandemic, this year both universities were unable to deliver a traditional Varsity series in Term 2. Instead, following the phased return to sport in Term 3, a day of competition with 18 fixtures across 12 sports, 6 of which will be live streamed, will take place on Sunday 13^th June- aptly called The Nottingham Games.

To ensure the safety of students, staff and our communities, all matches will be played behind-closed-doors with no spectators allowed under any circumstances and strict measures have been put in place to ensure matches are delivered in a safe and compliant manner.

Two of the fixtures that will be streamed are the Men’s and Women’s Basketball games. The  Women’s team tip-off at 10am, followed by the Men’s game at 12pm. Make sure to tune into the streams and show some #GreenAndGold support!

Like most sports, the two Basketball clubs have not escaped the struggles of COVID, with their trials, training and of course games interrupted throughout the year at various points. Both saw huge levels of interest at the start of the academic year and held promising trials, which they are looking to replicate in September 2021 with the hope that they can play more games across the year.

However, they have been able to train outside at Florence Boot Hall for the past few months and have been working hard to try and get back up to their full game-day strength. The clubs have both worked extremely hard to stay engaged with their members, and are grateful to be able to go out on a high and play one last competitive game this year!

The Men’s team for the Nottingham Games is made up of a number of talented players from the first, second and third teams. With so much talent within the club, President Ben Holland notes how difficult it was to decide on a final squad:

“As we have combined players from a number of our teams, it was a huge task to try and narrow it down to 12. Players to look out for include James Morris, who is a great shooter and will play a key role in our attack.”

Women’s Basketball President Cristal Sarjeant was equally as excited about the prospect of lining up against Trent,

“It’s been a bumpy road this year, but we are pumped to get one final game in! We have a number of scholars on what is looking to be a solid squad, notably American scholar Kennedy Nicholas who is incredible and super versatile, and Evi Dekker, who is Dutch, and has played for Trent in their national league team- we will definitely be using her knowledge to our advantage!”

UoNSU Sports Officer Josie Jessop has played an instrumental role in getting the Games up and running:

“I am so excited to be able to give students the opportunity to celebrate the return to sport at The Nottingham Games as well as get back into playing competitive sport after a really challenging year for our sport clubs.”

The Men’s team will be seeking redemption this year, having lost the past four Varsity fixtures, so it is sure to be an exciting game! The Ladies, on the other hand, have won all but one game in the past five years, so will be looking to continue their domination.

Previous years’  head-to-head results:

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Other sports competing within the games include Badminton, Dodgeball, Fencing, Futsal, Handball, Lacrosse, Squash, Swimming, Table Tennis, Ultimate Frisbee and Water Polo.

We will be bringing you 6 matches live throughout the day, keeping you up-to-date with all the action as and when it happens.

The following games will have a live stream:

Womens Basketball – 10 am
Men’s Basketball – 12 pm
Men’s Lacrosse – 1:30 pm
Men’s Futsal – 2:30 pm
Men’s Water Polo – 4:15
Women’s Water Polo – 5:15

You can follow all the action via our live streams on Facebook or using #NottsGames on social media.

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