Castleisland teenager, Adam Donoghue has made the Irish U-16 Basketball team for the European Championships in Sofia in Bulgaria this coming August.
It is a great honour for the young man and his community and a just reward for his dedication to sport in his young life to date.
Adam, a pupil in St. Patrick’s College, already has several All-Ireland winner’s medals in his possession. Between college and community games he has collected several Basketball medals and one very special athletics medal from a couple of years ago*.
Basketball Ireland has issued guidelines for each of the team members regarding the cost of participation in the European Championships.
The estimated cost for the Ireland U-16 Men’s Team to compete in thse championships is put at €17,000.
“We are looking for 17 companies to invest €1,000 each into the u-16 programme. Each participating company will receive the following: A thank-you letter from the team captain; A signed jersey from the team; Use of team ambassadors for a photocall and your brand or company logo on one of the player’s kit bag.
Anyone or any company wishing to get involved in the sponsorship of the team can contact Paul Kelleher, head coach on: 086 395 1995 or by email: cptk24@gmail.com / Sarah Deegan, team manager on 086 830 9516 / email: sarahdeegan71@gmail.com
Needless to say Adam Donoghue is delighted at his selection on the team and well merited it is as he scored something like 18 points in a recent away game against Denmark.
I asked him to put his thoughts on his sporting life and his love of Basketball on paper and he obliged with the following:
“I began playing Basketball when I was six and in senior infants. Back then the only competitive games we had were in the Christmas Blitz.
I liked the game from the start. However, like most people at that age I played more than one sport. Football and athletics were the other sports I competed in and in the early years I preferred running as I had been more successful at that than at any other sport.
I started to prefer Basketball when I was 11 or 12. It was at this age when I really started playing the game competitively.
I loved every minute of playing and couldn’t wait to play again after a game or a training session.
I think it was this love of the sport that allowed me to make the commitment to the Irish team. The Irish squad of 36 was picked in September of 2013 and since then there has been 4 selections reducing the number of players down to the final 12.
So far we have already played two international friendlies against Scotland last February and Denmark in Copenhagen during the December just gone. We will now be heading to the European championships in August of this year,” – Adam Donoghue.
*Adam’s All-Ireland winning athletics medal was special as his grand-dad, the late Denis Twomey was a founder member of An Riocht Athletic Club.
