Newby and Carnegie look to the future

It has not been an ideal start to the season for Leeds Carnegie who have had to postpone their first four games because of broken baskets at their Leeds Metropolitan University home venue.

Newby has also had to replace eight members of the team which lost to Reading in the Division 1 play-off final in April. The Carnegie head coach spent the summer raiding EBL rivals for their star players and has also brought in Justin Berry from Newman University, America.

Armand Anebo has joined from Brixton Topcats, and Josh Houghton has made the trip across the Pennines from Manchester Magic where he impressed last season. Newby said: “The new players have complimented the returning players incredibly well, although we are a shorter team from last year as always at Leeds Carnegie we want to aim high.”

The Leeds Carnegie women’s team has also gone through a rebuilding process over the summer with Nick Dawson being appointed head coach. Dawson has worked fast, bringing in three NCAA Division 1 players, including Lakeisha Wright who is Lafayette College’s all time leading scorer.

Wright is joined by Belgian, Fanny Tirtiaux from the University of Nevada Las Vegas, and Lithuanian, Greta Luksyte from the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Newby is aiming to increase the profile of basketball in Leeds and hopes that one day it will rival rugby and football. Since taking charge of Carnegie five years ago Newby has progressed the men’s team from the bottom division of the England Basketball League to the Division 1 play-off final, swelling the trophy cabinet along the way.

He said: “We have proved ourselves as one of the elite programmes in the country. It is always going to be tough to be as popular as Rugby and Football because of their strong presence and history in Leeds.

“But we have been working hard and our fan base is definitely growing, we had a record crowd of 520 at the end of last season and are looking to build on that this year.

“We are heading in the right direction for this club to continue being successful and bring in bigger crowds.”

It is not just the men’s team that Newby has progressed over the last five years, he has also set up and developed a junior programme that has already produced numerous county representatives and one England player.

This season Leeds Carnegie will have eight junior teams competing in the EBL National League, and the club delivers coaching in 20 schools across Leeds. Junior player Danny Evans, who earlier this year helped England win the Children’s Sports Games in Turkey, will be in this season’s roster for the men’s second team, and Newby believes he will be the first of many to make the step up to senior level.

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Content courtesy of Joesph Fitzpatrick.