West Brom Basketball Club director Liam Sheridan admits he’s waiting to hear about the future of the Premier League season – but expects the campaign to be written off.
West Brom are in the midst of the post-season play-offs, and pulled off a sizeable upset in their first-leg semi-final clash, beating league winners Balts at home.
However, just over a week before the second leg, Basketball England announced a suspension to all basketball activity due to the coronavirus outbreak – going on to end elite and National League basketball for the season prematurely.
Decisions at local league level are in the hands of each league, although many are expected to follow suit – something Sheridan admits is likely for West Brom.
“The Youth Basketball League got in touch and they’re a local competition as well but their season is over and it’s void basically.” he said.
“Although the West Midlands league, which we play in, haven’t sent out anything official I’d expect that it’s the same for our season.
“It feels very frustrating having won our first play-off game against the league champions that we couldn’t see if we could continue that run. However at this time the health and safety of everyone is of far greater importance.”
“It was a tough season in terms of results for our Prem team, I’ve said it many times, even through results have been tough we’ve been competitive and we have a bunch of people that really love playing for each other, which is a win in itself.”
West Midlands Basketball League are yet to issue a statement, leaving many players in limbo as regards the post-season run-in.
West Brom are not training, but whilst players await news – the club are not enforcing any home training sessions, with Sheridan trusting players to maintain fitness levels without instruction.
“As a club we haven’t enforced any training on people, but a lot of the guys always come in shape anyway. So I’d expect that most of the guys figure out ways to make the best of the current situation. We are sharing work out ideas through our social media channels @WestBromBC.”
“Im sure everyone will be missing practice and basketball in general. Whilst there’s the physical benefits, the mental benefits are really huge – probably more important than the physical side in my opinion. We would encourage anyone who needs to talk to reach out to us.”
Along with the league season, West Brom will also see their cup contests likely written off. The club’s Premier League and Division Two sides were both in opposite sides of the semi-finals.
Elsewhere, a decision is yet to be announced about the promotion of the Division Two outfit, who finished as league champions this season.
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