Liz Kerr will captain Guernsey in their defence of the women’s trophy at Fort Regent. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 0455994)
GUERNSEY will have three new senior caps – one male, two female – making their debut in the inter-insulars.
The Collas Day-sponsored sides will be looking to retain their trophies at Fort Regent on Saturday 19 April. The men’s player-coach, Jeff Stuart, admitted picking his final squad had not been easy.
‘It was a very tough process deciding upon the final 12 as the level of basketball being played on the island and the volume of quality players whom we have at present are excellent,’ he said.
‘I feel that the 12-man team will offer too strong an opposition to anything Jersey can throw at us and we will be going across to play a structured, passionate, focused game.
‘We have depth in every position, versatility in respect of line-ups that we can put out and a wealth of experience across the team.’
Stuart has named an experienced squad that has around 50 inter-insular caps between them.
Eight of the 12 were part of the Guernsey team at last year’s Island Games.
The players who were at Rhodes but not in the set up are Lee Ogier and Paul van Beek, who are off travelling, Kerry Smyth, who now lives in New York, and Jamie Roussel, who has seemed to have concentrated more on his roles as the island’s netball coach and women’s assistant-coach instead of playing thie year.
Smyth’s younger brother Liam is back in after having represented Guernsey at volleyball in Rhodes and so are Nick Leale and Pierre Jehan.
Former St Martin’s Priaulx footballer Jehan has been a general on the court for Le Mont Saint Subaru this season since returning to the sport.
The one debutant is forward Paul Wilkes, who turns 31 at the weekend.
The lawyer from Sydney has been in the island for 18 months.
He has been a vital clog for Collins Stewart as they sit top of Yorkshire Guernsey Division One.
‘It’s really good [to be selected]. My form has been off lately and I wasn’t confident of getting in,’ he said.
‘I’m looking forward to it. If their team is the same as last year, we’ll have a really good shout, but you don’t know if they’ve got some new players.
‘It should be really good fun.’
Stuart said his squad had put the work in and were raring to go.
He added there were bigger things in the pipeline.
‘Training sessions have been going very well, support for the team has been strong and hopefully there will be a good contingent of Guernsey fans who will be making the journey to support us,’ he said.
‘The backing of Collas Day has added impetus to our push for a more professional set-up for the team and future developments will see the island men’s team welcoming National League opposition to Guernsey and the island’s own brand of basketball being tested further afield in the UK.
‘But the first step and the only focus for the 12 at present are to be clinical in preparing for and defeating Jersey in their own back yard.’
While Stuart named four changes to his Island Games squad from last year, the women’s coach, Pat Ogier, has named three.
The additions are island football star Rochelle Vaudin, who wins her second cap, Katie Cochrane and Sammie Redhead, who are making their debuts.
The side are led by former Australian national league player, the exceptional Liz Kerr.
The Greens have dominated their Jersey counterparts for a number of years but Ogier is taking nothing for granted.
‘We have no idea what the Jersey side will be like this year but we are aware that they have been preparing hard and travelling off island to play which will obviously help them,’ he said.
‘We are always confident of winning whoever the opposition but we are taking nothing for granted and are preparing for a tough game at the Fort.’
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