Jetstream: John Lavery introduces - your Cheshire Jets

Oct 6 2011

Cheshire Jets' John Lavery

Heading into the third game of the season I thought it was a good time to give my own personal introductions to this season’s roster.

Firstly it was great to secure Colin O’Reilly’s signature for a third season. What you get with Colin is someone who is not only an excellent player but a great team leader with a high basketball IQ.

Matt Schneck also returns despite teams from Germany, Switzerland and a couple from the BBL speaking to him. A huge vote of thanks to the Jets’ directors who have worked hard to put together the package. He led the league in rebounds last year, has amazing energy and is a perfect professional and a great guy.

Bill Cole, out of a great basketball college in Illinois University is a really tough player. He’s 6ft 9ins, can play any position and can guard anyone. He was in the Illinois starting five for his defensive capabilities, but more than that he’s got really good touch from outside, is a decent three point shooter and can take the ball inside. And if that’s not enough he’s a Liverpool FC fan as well!

Adam Brown came from another NCAA Division One college – Houston – he’s a  6ft 4ins guard with outstanding stats of over 14 points per match and 40% from three-point land.

We’ve also got Shawn Myers  back  after his tremendous season at Milton Keynes  last year and have brought in Keith Page, a young guard who played for the Manchester Magic last year.

Keith is an excellent prospect – 6ft 3ins and he looks after the ball really well. He averaged 19ppg for the Magic last year, but what really stood out was the assists column – more than five per game  – and that speaks volumes about his ability to make good use of the ball.

We also have the familiar face of Phil Brandreth who will be part of the roster again this year. The 6ft 3ins 25-year-old forward first joined the Jets in 2003 after he was spotted at summer camp.

He went to the USA to study at Mount Aloysius College and on his return to this country in 2007 he rejoined the Jets and has been part of the squad ever since. He is the really good example of what we want to achieve here at the Jets, a player who came to our training sessions and events while he was still at school, who showed some promise, took some advice and went to the US to study and returned to use what he has learned to benefit his local team.

He can be an inspiration to other locally-born youngsters, who can see that with hard work and commitment, they too could find success with their club.

And then there’s Ryan Gallagher, who triumphed over Matt Schneck in the dunk competition at the Jets camp this summer.

Ryan has only been playing basketball for about five years, but after his season with the Jets 2nds in EBL4 last season, his progress has been quite phenomenal, he’s really committed to his game and we have every hope that over the next couple of years, we will see some really good things from him.

We’ve also got another graduate from the Jets junior programme - Jason Helsby.

He played half a season for the EBL4 team last season but had to scale it down a bit due to academic pressures, but he’s got a good attitude and we are looking forward to working with him, now the pressure of exams is off a bit.

We're also giving an opportunity to Lewis Halpin and Joe Wilson, two of last year’s U16 team, to train with the BBL team and sit on the bench, to give them an idea of what is involved.

We think they can hold their own physically in practice with the pros and it should aid their development. They’re big lads and it should give them a good idea of what they will have to do if they are to make their way at the next level after they’re finished with junior basketball.