Ireland - Basketball Ireland announces major initatives

From www.rte.ie
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Basketball Ireland is delighted to announce the launch of the Emerald Hoops programme, which is one of the most innovative developments in Irish Basketball in recent years.

The launch, which takes place on Thursday at the Keough Notre Dame Centre in Dublin, will be attended by Basketball Ireland President Tony Colgan, Irish Sports Council Chief Executive John Treacy, and leading Irish senior international basketball players including Conor Grace and Ian O'Boyle.

Notre Dame, one of the top American College Basketball teams, will showcase their skills at the first Emerald Hoops tournament, the Emerald Hoops International Series.

The venue for the tournament games will be the National Basketball Arena in Dublin.

Known as the 'Fighting Irish', Notre Dame has strong links with Ireland and their participation represents a major coup for Basketball in Ireland.

Notre Dame will be joined by the Poland Senior Men's National team, which is one of Europe's top international teams.

The four nation tournament will also include the Iceland Senior Men's team and the host nation Ireland.

The launch will also see the official announcement of the Polish/Irish Festival which will be running in tandem with the International Series.

The festival is being run in conjunction with the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism. The Festival forms part of their annual schedule for the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue.

The Emerald Hoops programme was established by Basketball Ireland in 2007 to provide a strategic framework for growing the linkages between the American and the Irish basketball communities.

College Basketball has a huge following in America and is the platform used to launch the careers of America's best known professional basketball.

The programme has already been launched in America at which Notre Dame was strongly represented.

Notre Dame coach and current Big East Coach of the year Mike Brey describes it as an unique opportunity for his team to further its linkages with Ireland and to reinforce the clubs important Irish identity.

'The Fighting Irish in Ireland is just natural,' says Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey.

'This is going to be a truly unique experience for our coaching staff, administration, fans, and especially, our players.

'I've been impressed with everyone I've had contact with about the event.

'We're truly honoured that Notre Dame has been selected as the first collegiate team to participate in this event.'

Notre Dame reached the final 32 in the National Championship in 2008.

Their star forward Luke Harangody was the Big East player of the year and was also selected on the All American squad.

The team that travels to Ireland will onle be one player short of the 2008 season squad.

The coaching staff will be hoping to use their participation in the Emerald Hoops International Series as a stepping stone to even greater success in the 2009 college basketball season.

An initial five year plan has been developed for the Emerald Hoops programme that will see the number of annual events held in Ireland increase from 1 in 2008 to over 10 by year five.

These events will consist of

a) Tournaments featuring top US College basketball teams (men & women) and European teams.


b) Tournaments featuring top US High School basketball teams (boys and girls) and European teams.


c) Events featuring NBA players/teams.


d) Coaching clinics from top US basketball coaches.


e) Officiating clinics from top US basketball referees and table officials

These events will, in addition to supporting the development of basketball in Ireland, drive significant numbers of US visitors to Ireland from the ranks of players, coaches, referees, fans and families.

They will also create a platform for destination marketing into US sports/basketball fans.

College basketball in the US is one of the top TV events in terms of viewers and commercial incomes.

This is a hugely exciting development for Irish basketball and has huge potential in terms of growing the game here in Ireland and reaching a larger audience.