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Aztecs Tournament, 2nd September 2006
The 2006 Aztecs Tournament took place on Saturday 2nd September at Wellington College Sports Club, Crowthorne. 5 Ladies and 8 mens teams participated, and we were pleased to welcome for the first time a ladies team from outside England - the Lady Windmills. We also welcomed the Kidderminster Cobras from the Birmingham area.
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In the Ladies league section, the Aztec Rage were clearly going to be the team to beat as their pace and all-round game quickly opened up a winning margin against all of their opponents.
Apart from the Rage, the other ladies teams were well matched: each team won at least once, and each team can point to at least one result that went against them by a very narrow margin. All 4 teams could conceivably have made the final, and in the end, it was a narrow win by the Lady Windmills against a tiring Royal Signals that put the Dutch women in the final.
By this point, the gallant Netherlanders were also tiring - having run the whole tournament with only 6 players - and in the final they had no answer to the fresher, faster (and younger!) Rage team who showed us why they are Wessex Area champions with a classy display of controlled offence. They are the new holders of the Cuauhtli* Shield.
Right, the gallant Windmill Ladies with their runners-up medals.
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In the Men's Group 1, a very young and inexperienced Whitley Wizzards were outgunned by the bigger teams but reinforced their reputation by never giving up, and putting on a model display of team spirit. In doing so they showed flashes of pace and also some decent 3 point shooting over their much taller opponents. The Windmills opened their account with a sleepy display suggesting an over-long visit to the nightclub, and South Bucks Comets took full advantage with a brisk display that made them favourites to top Group 1. Woodley then upset the form book by taking South Bucks to a shootout and winning it, leaving pre-tournament favourites Windmills with a ticklish final game in which they needed to beat Woodley by 4 points to win the group, or at least 2 points to go through in 2nd place. Although Windmills pulled ahead early in the game, Woodley reeled in the taller Dutch side, and went into the final minute of the game only 1 basket adrift. Windmills patiently controlled the ball, and Woodley patiently awaited a 24 second call to force the Dutchies to give up the ball - but no call was heard and the Windmills, slightly controversially, had gone through by the narrowest of margins.
Mens Group 2 was a very close run thing. After starting their first game looking like they were still on the M1, the Kidderminster Cobras made a late comeback and just failed to pip Windsor. They then squeezed past an Aztecs Jaguar team still getting to know each other, hanging on to a 1 point lead under a barrage of last minute pressure. They then took Group favourites Loddon Valley right down to the wire and a nervous shoot out was required for Loddon Valley to confirm their place as Group winners, and this also put out the Cobras in favour of Windsor. The latter produced some excellent passages of team play as they comfortably eased past the Jaguars and into the Semis.
The 2 semi-finals produced some fine basketball, and South Bucks showed their strength in depth in a good win over the day's surprise success, Windsor Warriors. Windmills finally woke up and produced the flowing, high altitude basketball that we know they are capable of, in seeing off an injury-hit Loddon Valley.
In the final, Windmills took an early lead, and despite a very credible fightback from South Bucks Comets, the Dutchmen held on to win a high quality game by just 4 points, and retain their title.
Click here to see the full tournament results.
Click here to see the photo montage. (To come)
The 2006 champions are:
The Cuauhtli Shield for Ladies- Aztec Rage.
The Cuauhtli Trophy for Men - Windmills
From the Aztec Calendar - "Cuauhtli, Eagle-A good day for action"
The 13-day period Cuauhtli (Eagle) is ruled by Xochiquetzal. This trecena signifies a time of inspired play: regardless of the sport, this is the time of mastery. All of one's practice and preparation culminates now in an unparalleled conjunction of luck, skill and timing
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Above, the 2006 Winners, Windmills with the Cuauhtli Trophy
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Basketball in Bracknell, Crowthorne, Wokingham, Camberley, Sandhurst, south Reading, Woodley, Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey, for men and women.
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