Basketball in association with Game Time Birthday Parties & Decorative Concrete Solutions

The success of the Schools season, especially the Finals Event would be hard to top, but Game Time promised an awards ceremony to remember and with over 200 people present at the plush Thistle Hotel, the night could hardly have gone better, bringing down the curtain on a very special season for basketball enthusiasts across the region.

The biggest turnout was from the Schools League teams who have experienced an unprecedented season of basketball and media coverage to provide recognition of their achievements. In particular Nunthorpe School brought over 60 people, followed by over 40 from Blakeston School. Their respective Head Coaches deservedly collecting Coach of the Year awards for their efforts off the court as well as on.

The evening was compered by James Thomson, head of Game Time and the Schools League and in attendance were a number of special guests from various backgrounds to present awards, including American professional; Ralph Bucci, models/actresses; Kirby & Fallon, R&B artist; Principul, Gareth Rogers of Redcar Bears speedway, Chairman of TBL; Nigel Clack, Director of PE at Macmillan Academy; Oscar Stanton and Manager of Eston Sports Academy; Ian Donley.

The evening celebrated the achievements of players from Game Time, Lions basketball club, Teesside Basketball League & Tees Schools League and the bar has now been set for other schools to compete with the basketball programmes and support in place at Blakeston & Nunthorpe. This is the first year Nunthorpe have really pushed basketball and their efforts, especially those of Head Coach; Darren Bunn have been recognised and rewarded. Blakeston School, led by Mike Garthwaite, Tony Harrington and a dedicated staff have teams in years 7,8,9 & 10 as well as U16 Girls which is a great feat and coupled with their efforts off the court including quick delivery of results & info and great school display boards earned them the Best Basketball School Award.

At the other end of the spectrum, Macmillan Academy were awarded Most Improved School, having only introduced their basketball programme at the start of the season, they fulfilled a healthy number of games, submitted info quickly but more importantly developed their coaching programme and with assistance from Game Time have five basketball sessions per week for children of all ages.

In the TBL, Mark Finmore and Norton Bulls collected Most Valuable Player and Team of the Season after winning Division 2 with only one league defeat all season. Finmore averaged 29.6 points per game as he led the Bulls to the league and CVL Cup double.

Following the presentation was a live show by R&B star; Principul and his PSD crew member; Gizmo, a Turkish break dancing champion. Principul performed 4 songs and was accompanied by a stunning performance from Gizmo bringing the audience to a rapturous applause as he produced a breathtaking head spin and whilst spinning took off his shirt. Principul will be releasing his new single soon and will be available to download on iTunes. For more info on Principul and where you can see PSD perform next visit www.principulpsd.com

You may have seen Gizmo perform on TV before, his most famous appearance being on last years Britain's Got Talent in which Simon and Pieres had buzzed off what then appeared to be one of the best and most unique acts. You can view this amazing video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z77Y1cgF6oY or by clicking the Gizmo link on 'related links' below.

It would certainly seem that PSD are going places.

A special thank you to Aarlene and the staff at the fantastic venue of Thistle Hotel in Middlesbrough.

For more photos of the event visit www.game-time.co.uk and click on events. You can also purchase the photos at www.gingerpusspictures.co.uk with professional images from Julie Gibson.