Inverness Lions roar into top flight of Scottish basketball
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Inverness Lions under-18 team have qualified to play in National League Division One for the first time.
The club will be one of eight teams from across the country which will compete in the top flight of Scottish basketball for the 2021/22 campaign.
The team took part in qualification matches over the past two months, where the top eight teams were decided to compete in Division One this season.
The seven teams they will compete against are Falkirk Fury, City of Edinburgh Kings, St Mirren, Grampian Flyers, Glasgow Rens, West Lothian Wolves and Stirling Knights.
Inverness Lions won all their matches during the qualification process this summer.
But development coach Tracy Tamijmarane says league organisers were not just looking at results when deciding the top eight to play in National Division One for the 2021/22 season.
“Basketball Scotland gave automatic spaces to four teams with 10 teams competing for the other four spaces,” she said.
“We were allocated teams to play which were captured on video. Each team was analysed on who would be the strongest to go through and compete in Division One.
“They were looking at which clubs would be the most competitive to be among the top eight teams in that age group.
“We have only recently started our under-18 programme and have competed for three seasons.
“So to now be recognised as one of the top eight teams in Scotland is fantastic and the boys are really keen to get going as it has taken such a long time to get back on court due to Covid.”
Inverness Lions are due to start National Division One at the end of September with the fixtures still to be confirmed.
The club currently has around 100 members with most of the membership maintained during lockdown.
