The Cheshire Jets fans and campers rose to the challenge on Sunday night when they attempted to set a new world record for the most amount of people spinning a ball on their finger simultaneously.
The record had never been set before so the minimum number of people needed to take part was 100. So on Sunday afternoon over 104 coaches, campers and referees took to the floor at the 26th Jets summer camp at Ellesmere Port Catholic high. Some campers had been practicing during the weeklong basketball camp in their ball handling stations ready for the attempt at the weekend.
Two independent adjudicators were present, Howard Davies a qualified BBL referee and Jamie Stevens from Dee106.3's drive time came along to make sure things ran according to the Guinness World Record rules. BBC's newsround also made the trip up from London to film the event for their weekend show Sportsround. Young camper Sam Ankers from North Wales was chosen to show off his skills in the piece as he was trained by Jets pro's James Hamilton and Shawn Myers.
Family and Jets supporters crowded into the main sports hall to cheer on the record attempt, and at 3.45 Mark Whitehead one of the camp's main organisors started the count down to the world record attempt. The time to beat was 3 seconds with all balls spinning at the same time.
A loud cheer went up after the adjudicators stated they both believed that they had been successful in their attempt and the evidence has been gathered to send off to Guinness, the Jets will now have to wait to see if they can call themselves world record holders.
Dee106.3' Jamie Stevens Said:
"It was great to see a world record created in Ellesmere Port, and with so many people their to support the kids and coaches. Spinning a basketball is a skill and one that the kids on the camp perfected. Everyone that took part should be proud of what they have achieved, they just have to wait to hear Guinness's decision which I'm sure will be a positive one. I'm looking forward to seeing if they can smash it next year."
James Hamilton added:
"It was a great fun event for the kids to get involved with, giving then something to aim for at the end of the week. They had top level coaching in basketball fundamentals over the six days and this was a bit of fun and a break from the hard stuff. This years camp has been one of the best I've been involved the campers came with a great attitude all of which was demonstrated in last nights result."
This years camp has been hailed a great success with 180 participants taking part, campers came from as far away as Spain and Lithuania. Members of the coaching staff also flew in from America to lend their support. Overall camp MVP (Most Valuable Player) and winner of a two week all expenses paid trip to a top level Basketball Camp to Pittsburgh was 18 year old Jake Wyatt from Northampton.
Senior Coach Richard Murphy said:
"I was really impressed with the level of talent I saw at the camp from all ages. The reason we chose Jake though is that he had by far the best attitude over the whole week. Jake worked hard at all stations, and he played really hard within his team, his overall skill and talent really shone. I'm sure he'll really benefit from the Pittsburgh camp and I wish him the best of luck"
Source: www.bbl.org.uk
