The Airwaves Plymouth Raiders are pleased to announce that Jamie Burchell will be back playing with the BBL team again this season. Burchell, the Raiders Head of Schools and Community Development, spent last season playing with Raiders II in EBL Division 2. However, Raiders have now asked Burchell to join up with the first team again, something that he was all too keen to do!
"I am delighted to have the opportunity to once again pull on the green jersey this year," said Burchell. "This will be my 10th season with the club, and I'm as excited and honoured now as I was when I came to Plymouth in 1999"
Burchell led the Raiders 2 team last year in scoring and rebounding, and will be looking to establish himself in coach Gary Stronach's rotation on game nights this coming season. "I don't intend to be on this team solely as a practice player. I have worked hard all summer to get into the kind of shape that you need to be in to compete as this level. Throughout my time here, I have gone out at 110% to do whatever Gary has wanted me to do, whether it was to grab some rebounds, stop someone on defence, or just support my teammates from the bench. Naturally, I will continue to do that, but hopefully I will carve out a role for myself out on the floor this year."
"I think having Allister, James and myself around the new players this year will be helpful to them and coach, because we have been around Gary's playing system for a long time now and we will be able to help them understand his philosophies. If they buy into the "Plymouth Raiders brand of basketball", then I'm sure we will make some noise in this league."
6'5" Burchell has been working extremely hard in the off season to get himself into BBL game shape. Working out at the gym, running and playing as often as he can, he has lost weight but gained strength and will look to contest the small and power forward positions.
Raiders Coach Gary Stronach said "James took a back seat last year because of his work as head of development, but he still had a quality season in Division 2. He's been with the Raiders for 10 years now, and has shown total commitment to the club. I'm delighted to have him back with the BBL team. I know he has been working really hard during the summer, and is relishing the challenge of competing for minutes in the BBL."
Off court, Burchell is constantly busy coaching in schools and establishing Raiders as a premier coaching force in the community. Raiders Chief Executive Dave Briggs praised the work that Burchell had done away from the BBL game nights. "Jamie has set up a number of sustainable community clubs in the Plymouth area as a long lasting legacy to the highly successful "Hoops 4 Health" programme that the Raiders ran in schools this year. The scheme was funded by Plymouth City Council, the Police, the Local Strategic Partnership and the University of Plymouth and saw the Raiders working to promote healthy lifestyles in half of Plymouth's primary schools last year. This year, we would like to target the remaining half, and Jamie will again be a big part of that."
Source: www.bbl.org.uk
