Sports stars inspire 100 girls at 'incredible' basketball event

Almost 100 girls took to the basketball courts to learn the secrets of the sport from the University of Essex’s elite professional sportswomen.

The globetrotting first team squad guided the youngsters through drills and practices before talking questions from the galvanised girls.

Children – aged between 12 and 15 –dribbled, shot and practiced lay-ups with the Rebels.

Youngsters from Tiptree’s Thurstable School, Harwich and Dovercourt High School, and Colchester’s

St Helena School, St Benedict’s College and Thomas Lord Audley School took part.

They were joined by girls from Romford’s Redden Court School and Tendring Technology College.

The Rebels were chosen as a lead partner to deliver international basketball federation FIBA’s women’s and girls’ basketball campaign, Her World, Her Rules, on behalf of Basketball England and the British Basketball Federation.

It is the second Essex event after the Rebels hosted an International Women's Day clinic earlier in the month.

Held at the University’s Colchester Campus, the school showpiece took place last Thursday and was organised by former Rebels player Olivia Partridge.

'Inspire the next generation'

The University’s Sports Development Officer said: “Our Her World, Her Rules Secondary School basketball event was an incredible success and I’m so proud of all the girls who took part.

“Working closely with local schools to bring this event to life has been a great opportunity to engage our community and provide young athletes with a platform to develop their skills.

“I think events like this are so important to empower and inspire the next generation.

“The University offers so much to youngsters to help them develop and hopefully this session will encourage girls and boys to join our junior teams and take part in our weekly Rebels Play sessions.”

She added: “It was incredible to see how the girls learnt so much from the Rebels and events like this are what makes the University of Essex the Eastern region’s beacon for women’s sport."

Her World Her Rules is the flagship grassroots outreach programme organised by FIBA, which aims to unite women and girls through basketball, focussing on girls aged 6-15 years old.

It hopes to encourage and nurture the sports next generation of young women, increase participation, and connect girls with sporting role models.

Rebels captain Claire Paxton was one of the players leading the sessions.

The forward – who represented Scotland at the Commonwealth Games and capped British international – said: “We had a fun day with almost 100 girls from around Essex.

“It's a great project for the Rebels to be involved in, helping grow the women's game in Britain. Hopefully we'll see some of the girls from today in a Rebels jersey in the future!”