FOUR Bradford Dragons’ players were included in the victorious Yorkshire under-15 boys' squad at the prestigious annual Regional Development Tournament in Leeds last weekend.
Zion Tordoff, Eisley Swaine, Calum O’Dowd and Jayden Martin were selected to represent the county team, which was also coached by Dragons' assistant Samuel Messam.
The tournament, which also included teams from the North West, North East, East Midlands, East, South East, South, South West, West Midlands and London regions, is part of Basketball England’s talent identification system. In time, it will become the system of trialling or ‘trying out’ for England squad selection.
The Yorkshire side won all their initial group games, going on to beat the East in the semi-final and then the North West in the final, finishing the tournament with a 6-0 record over the course of the weekend.
Messam said: “It was a pleasure coaching the Yorkshire under-15 representative squad. To get to the Regional Development Tournament, and win, was the net result of a great deal of hard work from the players.
"Having four junior Dragons on the squad made the experience particularly rewarding for me. Zion Tordoff and Eisley Swaine both had a fantastic tournament, and Jayden Martin and Callum O’Dowd will have also learnt a great deal from the experience.”
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