Unlikely Heroes
When London United entered two U14 teams in National League, South I Division we had no expectation of immediate success. Our cautious approach was due to the fact that the majority of our players are still in their first year of the U14 age category and have limited experience at National League level. Early defeats against Haringey and West Herts seemed to confirm that that this season will be a developmental process and dedicated to learning and gaining experience.
However, Coach Kelson Dickson had other ideas and proved that learning and gaining experience can be done in a very accelerated fashion. The team quickly got its own identity based on a ferocious full court defence and relentless fast breaks and started to win games. The defining moment arrived when West Herts were beaten at Alec Reed Academy by 47 points. From that point onwards, our young warriors remained unbeaten and sealed their promotion to U14 South Premier competition by defeating Haringey at home 76-68.
Our young U14 squad now progress to the play off stage of the season and will also gain valuable International experience competing in a large tournament organised by Rosa Radom at the end of May.
Coach Kelson was more than enthusiastic when he delivered his comments: “This group is a real pleasure to work with. They have everything: talent, size, athleticism and most importantly they work extremely hard. They have already surpassed all expectations but this is just the beginning for them. We have to show this group in Europe and we have already started doing that by taking them to a major International Tournament in May”.