Kent Crusaders Basketball Club
| Kent Crusaders | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| League | National League Division 1 |
| Founded | 2000 |
| History |
Canterbury Jazz, CK Heat (Early 1990s–2001) East Kent Crusaders (2001–2006) Kent Crusaders (2006–2009) Medway Park Crusaders (2009–2014) Kent Crusaders (2014–present) |
| Arena |
Medway Park Black Lion |
| Location | Gillingham, Kent |
| Team colors | Blue and white |
| Head coach | Mads Olesen |
Kent Crusaders are an English semi-professionalbasketball club based in Canterbury, Kent, playing in the England Basketball National League. The team's history dates back to the early 1990s, but in its current form it has been in existence since 2000.
The club has sent three players to professional contracts in Europe, including Ryan Richards, the youngest player ever to play in the Nike Hoop Summit.
The club has continued to grow with a 6th form academy based at Canterbury High School launched in 2007 and stronger links being formed with the juniors in 2008 as the club expanded to include men’s, under-18, under-16 and under-14 National League teams.
In 2009 the club moved its men's team from Canterbury to Medway as a sponsorship deal was announced with Medway Park Leisure Centre. The junior teams will follow the men to Medway in January 2010. The Crusaders Academies still reside at Canterbury High School.
The roots of the Kent Crusaders began in the early 1990s when Kevin and Christine Paice, Dave Hooper and Hill Lingham began developing junior basketball at Canterbury College. Through their work, the Canterbury Jazz and CK Heat were born. As the club gathered momentum, the College became the place to be for basketball in East Kent. Trevor Acres and Kevin Maloney joined the coaching staff and numerous boys were given the opportunity to play National League and the club won numerous Kent cups.
In 2000, ex-player and young coach Jay Gifford took over the club. He was joined a year later by Canadian Jesse Sazant. Coach Sazant took the team to new heights, including a National Under 16 quarterfinal in his first season. At this point the club was relaunched as the East Kent Crusaders.
After losing older players to London for years, the club decided to launch a men’s EBL Division 3 team in 2004. In their first season the club finished third in Division 3 South East. The initial season saw a number of the club’s former junior players return to the Crusaders to be joined by a number of local players.
In their second season the team quickly progressed, winning the 2005/06 EBL Division 3 South East and making the finals of the National Shield.
...
Wikipedia