Welcome to Retford Raiders Official Website
Next League Match...
Retford V Foulstone Flyers @ 8:30pm
Thursday 1st March 2012 @ EIS
Welcome to Retford Raiders home page. Here you'll find everything you need to know about us as well as all the latest news, results, game reports and information about our current players and coaching staff.
Whether you are a complete basketball novice or an experienced player if you are interested in playing basketball within the local area why not come down to our training night. Admission is free for the first session. No under 16's. For more information click here.
Top row: Daniel Hobden, Gareth Moffatt, Benjamin Coy, Steve Harrison
Bottom row: Dave Wright, Matt Sadler, Richard Pedley, Rob Bray
Despite a determined performance an undermanned Retford team came up just short of a win last Thursday against Hillsborough. Check out the full game report courtesy of Matt Sadler. Man of the match was Rob Bray with 4 points, 8 rebounds and 0 turnovers. Well played Rob.
All scores and reports have been updated on the fixtures and game report page.
Retford manage keep their composure and win the third straight game in a tense match up with Hillsborough. Check out the full match report courtesy of Matt Sadler.
Retford are pleased to announce Mutual (www.mutual.uk.com) are the new sponsor for the 2011-12 season.
With the festive season nearly upon us I’ve started making plans for our annual Xmas bash. The court is booked at Retford Oaks on Saturday 17th December for 1pm-4pm. For those new to the club, for the last few years we have run a 3 on 3 tournament followed by a small presentation to the winner and then a scrimmage to finish the afternoon off. I’m hoping the afternoon will run the same format, however this will depend on numbers.
After the game we’ll be doing the usual and heading for a meal around 7pm. The general consensus from people I’ve already spoke to about it, is that the Indian Chef was a good venue last year so at the minute I think that’s our front runner.
Obviously I’m open to suggestions, so if anyone has a preference on another venue please let me know. The Indian Chef can accommodate a large amount of numbers so there is no immediate rush to get it booked, but if people can confirm by Friday 18th Movember I will book us a table.
So pencil this date in your diary and may the best team win.
Is this the 90's? Was that MJ and Scottie on the court the other night? No, it was Daniel Hobden and Richard Pedley who combined for 50 points to lead Retford to it's first victory of the new season against Sheffield Suns last Thursday. Check out the full match report courtesy of Daniel Hobden.
The cold weather and dark nights can only mean one thing – the basketball season is back, and while the NBA superstars are locked out, twiddling their thumbs, the Sheffield Basketball League is thriving. So after spending many years playing in the Doncaster League, Retford have decided to “take our talents to” Sheffield.
It has been a difficult time for Retford over the last 6 months. We have lost two key players in the form of veteran forward Bill Thorpe, and also our leading scorer for the past two seasons Andrius Blazys. In addition to this, other players have missed a lot of basketball due to injuries and other commitments.
Retford also decided to enter the Sheffield Summer League competition during the off season. Although we played well at times, we found it hard to adapt to life without Bill and Andy, and having poor numbers available to us, often went into games under resourced with only 5/6 players, at times having to “borrow” players from other teams. This lead to a poor record and a considerable amount of work to be done.
Since then however, things have improved. A lot of hard work has gone in over the summer. Players are starting to return to training, and we have added an extra player to the roster. Ben Coy has registered with us, and made his debut last week – bringing some much needed height and adding to our current “bomb squad” of three point shooters. A new offensive system has been introduced and given the team greater flexibility, and we as a team, despite work to be done, are starting to find our rhythm and are adapting our system to suit the players we have available.
We have played two games to date in the Sheffield League, and early signs are positive. The first game was a local rivalry game against Worksop, and despite losing by 5 with a heavily depleted roster, there were more positives than negatives. The second game was more successful and saw Retford grab a 15 point victory over Sheffield Suns. We currently have the division’s top two leading scorers in Dan Hobden and the club captain Richard Pedley. Ben Coy also made his Retford debut, scoring 6 points and adding 7 rebounds.
Although, there is still major room for improvement, we will continue to work hard as we aim to have a significantly better record than the last few seasons, and finish as close to the top of the division as possible. Not to mention the small fact, we need to remind Worksop who the top team locally is...
So things are looking good, and while I would like to thank Bill for his mammoth efforts for Retford over the years, and Andy for tearing up opposition defence’s the past few seasons including his 40 point haul, we look forward not backwards – and in the words of coach Carter “Then I guess we’ll have new leading scorers this season...”
Matt
Hi gents, I think we've all been thankful for the break after the long season, the chance to recharge batteries and get over those
little niggling injuries. Or maybe its just the captains aching body that was thankful for the break! lol Anyway, the time for rest is over.
Thanks to the effort of Matt and Gaz we've managed to secure a place in the Sheffield Summer league this year which starts this Thursday (2nd June).
All the summer league fixtures have been put up on the website so take a look at those to see the various new teams we'll be facing.
You can also view the full terms and details of the summer league here
The bad news at the end of the season was the serious injury Dan Hobden sustained, meaning we will have to battle through the first month
(at least) of summer season without one of our main scoring options. Speedy recovery Dan.
In terms of finances, summer league is going to cost each player £5 per game. Over the past few months the numbers for Wednesday sessions
have seriously taken a dive. This has also started to effect sunday sessions with us struggling to get 10 players down on a regular basis.
Alot of this has been circumstantial with people being injured, away on holiday and just simply needing a rest at the end of the long season.
What we won't want to happen as a result of us entering summer league is for people just turning up to games and missing Wednesday training.
To this extent we've decided to introduce a penalty system, the penalty being, if you miss 2 Wednesday sessions you will not be eligable to
play for one summer league game. This will be at the coaches discretion.
The club is just about breaking even at the minute, but i'm hopeful that in the coming weeks things will pick up and numbers will get back to normal.
If the numbers do continue to dwindle/dive we may have to look into shortening the sunday session or take other measures. I've got no interest in
moaning at people if they miss training sessions as we all have issues and commitments, however when it comes down to the point when our core training
session is in danger of being cancelled, thats when we all need to take note and make every effort to be at training. Please don't take it for granted
that it will always be there.
So plenty of basketball ahead for us all this summer, looking forward to our game this coming Thursday and lets see what we can do in this league.
The captain
We've had a few results and i'm just trying to do a bulk update of the website to get us up to speed. The most significant of all was the plate win against Alverely
that takes us through to a semi final clash against Hull Devils this coming Tuesday. Well done on that lads, great result.
I've also updated the fixtures list with the revised dates for the games that were cancelled before Christmas so check them out.
Cheers, Rich
Alright its a bit late but, better late than never. I've just done a mass update on the site so were all up to date. You can check out the match reports from our last two games (Axholme and Darfeld), once again thanks to Dave for them.
I’m hoping we’ll receive a fixture revision in the coming weeks for the two games that were cancelled due to the extreme weather conditions before Christmas.
Looking forward to the game tomorrow chaps, lets get a win!
Cheers, Rich
Retford got its first win of the new season under its belt with a convincing win over Axholme last week. Full match details to follow. In the mean time, the game report for our second matchup of the season against Doncaster Falcons is now in the usual place. Again, thanks to Dave for the write up.
The unfortunate details of this weeks game against Alverley are now in the game reports section. Big thanks to Dave for writing the report.
Site has been (partially) updated. The new fixtures list is available for everyone to check out. First game of the season is Alverley this Tuesday @ 7pm usual spot (Deaf College).
Retford honored players for their efforts during the season last week. Three awards were handed out in total. The Most Valuable Player award which was based on overall stats from the season went to Andrius Blazys. The defensive player of the year which was also based on season stats went to Gareth Moffat.
The final award for most improved player which was based on a club vote was awarded to Steve Harrison who pipped Daniel Hobden in a close poll by one vote. Each player received an official match ball.
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Well done gents.
Retford were over powered this week by the current league leaders Deaf College. You can read the full match report in the game reports section.
Thanks to Matt for writing the report up.Retford achieved an excellent victory over Hull Wasps last night. Full details of the game to follow shortly.
The fixtures list has also been updated with all the latest information.
There's no more league games until the New Year but still quite a lot happening over the Christmas period. More to come on that in a minute but firstly to our next league game, which is now Tuesday 5th of January. This is the rescheduled game against Hull Wasps that was previously cancelled. I’ve updated all the scores and fixtures list so feel free to take a look at them.
Moving on to the important stuff, we’ve got a busy weekend ahead of us. As some of you have probably heard the teams were drawn this last weekend for the 3 on 3 tournament that’s taking place this weekend as part of our Christmas ball game. You can see all the teams and format for the tournament here. The court is booked from 1pm – 4pm at the usual spot Retford Oaks School.
Training is on Sunday as usual @ 6pm and Worksop are coming down for a friendly.
So I'll see all of you on Saturday at 1pm, you best be bringing your A game because one of those has my name on it. :-) Rich.
Retford lost out to Hull Wasps tonight in the plate match. Full details to follow.
Tuesdays match against Hull Wasps has been cancelled.
The game reports are now available for our last 2 wins against Danum and Axholme. You can check them both out in the results section.
It was a good result on Tuesday against Axholme but the bad news that came straight after was the seriousness of Geoff's injury. After turning his ankle it looks like we have lost Geoff until the New Year. Speedy recovery Geoff!
Turning to more positive things, I've started making plans for the Christmas do that’s fast becoming a tradition. I've booked a court for Saturday 19th December 2pm-4pm at Retford Oaks School. For the past 2 years we’ve had a skills tournament followed by a scrimmage. This year were going to mix it up and run a 3 on 3 tournament for the first hour, then get into a scrimmage for the final hour. The plan is to get the names of all the people who are going to be attending and organise the teams the week before by drawing the names out of a hat. We’ll then be going on for some food and drinks afterwards. So please keep this date free in your diary.
Matt has emailed me the stats for the season so far which you can view in the statistics section. The stats include points per game, rebounds per game, steals, turnovers, shooting percentage and much more. This has all been made possible by the efforts of Toni South and Leanne Bower so a big thank you to them. As Matt pointed out to me, if we each look closely at our stats we can use them to identify areas in our game we can all improve upon.
James has very kindly offered to do some profile shots for the website this Sunday, so hopefully see you all there. Rich.
Retford continued their winning streak with a win over Axholme this evening. Full match report to follow.
The Alverely report is now in the results section.
Led by Richard Pedley with 20 points, Retford got their first win of the season today against Danum. Full match report to follow.
Retford came up short in their match against Alverely last night. Full match report to follow.
The full details of the Deaf College game can now be seen in the results section.
A new season, a new kit and new look for the website. The full match report for the Deaf College match is on the way.
Retford lost the season opener last night as they came up against an in form deaf college. Full details to follow.
I received the winter league fixtures through yesterday and you can now find them in the fixtures section. Our first game see’s us take on the Deaf College this coming Tuesday (29th September).
There are 13 teams participating in the league this season, 7 in division 1 and 6 in division 2. We are in division 2.
As well as the usual Cup and Plate competitions the league has also scheduled in time for the Playoffs and an All-Star game which takes place at the end of the season. The playoffs will consist of the top 5 teams in Division 1 and the top 3 teams from Division 2.
I have also today placed the order for our new kit which should come in the next few weeks. You can take a sneak peak at the new kit here. We have gone for the LA in Royal\White.