Raiders Basketball Academy to be based at City College Plymouth

City College Plymouth is to host the Plymouth Raiders Academy for the foreseeable future – an exciting development for the club and the College.

The College already hosts the Raiders Basketball league team’s strength and conditioning and player development programmes, and will soon welcome the Academy league team who will train and play their games at the College’s Kings Road campus. Raiders is also discussing several new and exciting developments with the College.

Academy Manager for Sport at City College Plymouth, Charlie Legg, said: “We are really excited to be working with Raiders. They are assisting with renovating the sports centre at the College, which will provide excellent facilities for players and the various Raiders teams who will play and train here. The College offers players a fantastic education coupled with staff expertise that couldn’t be bettered.

“One of the strengths of the Raiders Academy will be the breadth of experience of the coaches and players that Academy students will get a chance to work with. The College offers a range of Foundation Degrees, creating a direct pathway to Plymouth University, making a seamless transition for our players to move onto university and stay in the area.”

Raiders Head Coach, Jay Marriot, has experience of playing professionally throughout Europe, and has been responsible for developing the Academy, on and off court for the past few years. He said: “The purpose of the Plymouth Raiders Academy is to develop players to the British Basketball League level. We will teach players basic fundamentals and the proper way to play basketball.

“As Head Coach, one of my objectives is to develop more local talent and bring attention to Plymouth, developing our reputation as being the 'go-to academy in England'!

“Players are already in the pipeline from various European and Asian countries – the future is very bright indeed! Players won’t fail to be impressed with the great facilities, staff enthusiasm and expertise, plus the central location of the College is a major asset.”

There will be plenty of on-court hours for the players to work with Jay Marriott, Division 3 coach Matt Hatchell, Academy coach Danny Stevens and some of the basketball players, in particular, Nick George and Brent Benson.

Jay continued “It’s obvious that the College is very excited about our partnership; they are already working with us closely to develop the Academy further, which will only help us to develop more local players and attract better players to the area. I predict some very productive times ahead.”

For more information about courses on offer at the College, please call 01752 305300, or visit www.cityplym.ac.uk.