Oldham Owls ANDREW LIDDLE [aged 13] helped the North West under 15’s junior wheelchair basketball team to secure the National Championships for the second time running.

Andrew joined the Owls when he was nine years old and started training with the North West under 15s squad three years ago.

Andrew now attends Copley High School, Stalybridge. His favourite subjects are english & maths and hopes one day to attend university. His hobbies are play-station and computer games and swimming. He loves taking his dog Buffy out for walks. Andrew says the best thing about taking up wheelchair basketball has been his improvement in wheelchair skills and the confidence it brings, making him feel better about himself as a person.

He is so shy that none of his school chums didn't know that he playing until last week.

Clubs in the North West are invited to send their juniors to a number of training sessions held throughout the region from which a team is selected to represent the region. This year’s squad was made up of four youngsters from Lancaster, three from Merseyside, two from Manchester and Andrew from Ashton.

The junior championships which were sponsored and supported by the Richard Longhorn Trust were held at the newly rebuilt Stoke Mandeville complex that is the home of disability sport over the weekend of the 6^th/7^th September 2003. Whilst the baskets are brought down from the regulatory 10’ to the 8’6” height the remainder of the rules remain unchanged.

Team members, excited parents and supporters travelled down to the Sir Ludwig Guttmann Sports Centre, Aylesbury last friday.

In their first pool match the North West came up against their arch rivals Yorkshire. Both sides found the going tough but when it came to scoring the kids from the dales proved to have the better nerve and won 14–9. The second and third pool games against London and Eastern Region however showed what the North West were capable of winning 22-4, 24-4.

In the semi-final they came up against the Eastern Region again and triumphed this time 28-8.

The North West were out to avenge their pool match defeat by Yorkshire in the final. In a tough and uncompromising start to the game, even at this level the old war of the roses rivalry was there for all to see. In a low scoring first quarter they remained level at 4-4. The second quarter saw the North West start to put a stronghold on the match racing into a five point lead by half time, (Andrew Liddle being a scorer in this period) a lead they kept until the last two minutes of the match when Yorkshire pulled a basket back but it was too little too late as the North West recorded a 17-13 winning score line.

This was the North West’s second successive championship. Andrew was also a member of the previous winning team when he was eleven.

Owls Zbigniew E Micek who is the assistant coach for the North West under 15s says of Andrew: “It is brilliant to have seen the boy grow up from being nine years old and see the vast improvement in him, both in terms of basketball and his own self-esteem. He is a quiet lad off court and hardly says a word but on court his competitive spirit is there for all to see. Watch out for him in the future.”

Owls Malcolm Jones did a sterling job as the team manager for the North West under 15s & under 19s.

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Last modified: February 14, 2006