Great Britain - British Basketball name U20 coaches

From uk.eurosport.yahoo.com
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Following the appointments of Chris Finch and Mark Clark as the senior men's and women's coaches respectively, British Basketball have announce that Tim Lewis and Sergio Lara-Bercial, will take on the roles of head coaches for the Under 20 Men's and Women's Basketball Squads.

Both Lewis and Lara-Bercial played key roles in Finch and Clark's respective coaching teams last summer, when the Great Britain men's and women's squads achieved promotion to EuroBasket A.

Lara-Bercial has been involved in women's basketball for seven years as Head Coach and Programme Leader for the Manchester Mystics club. He led the England Junior women's team to a sixth place finish in Bosnia 2005, and has also been a tutor and lecturer for England Basketball since 2003. His role as an assistant coach to Clark and the GB senior women's team over the past two seasons gives him superb experience with which to take on the GB Under 20 women.

I am truly excited about leading the Women's Under 20 programme. It is a great opportunity to work with a very talented group of players and I am thrilled to have a chance to help them on their way to becoming the best basketball players they can be for their own sake and for GB's said Lara-Bercial.

The European Championships this summer will provide these players with a fantastic opportunity to compete at a high level and to enhance their development. Having said that, the Under 20 programme will focus on more than this summer's results as we hope to engage the players throughout the year and to make a difference in their long term development.

The Men's Under 20 programme is also set to benefit by the appointment of Lewis (pictured), who has had 17 years experience in the identification and development of elite athletes in England. He has served on the coaching staff for the senior men's national teams for both England and Great Britain, and has also represented GB as a player in 1996.

I am very honoured and excited to be appointed as the Great Britain U20 Head Coach. I look forward to working closely with Chris Finch, Ron Wuotila and other staff at British Basketball in developing and producing players and a program that will compete amongst the best in Europe said Lewis.

Ron Wuotila, Performance Manager at British Performance Basketball, commented: British Basketball is pleased to announce these appointments. Sergio and Tim both bring a tremendous amount of experience and passion to these important roles. There is a significant amount of talent at the U20 level in Great Britain and with the right level of support these coaches are well positioned to develop our Under 20's into future Olympians.