Six of the Best – Paul James awarded BBL Coach of the Month

While several of the star players at Worcester Wolves have steadily picked up individual BBL Team of the Week honours over the course of the last couple of seasons, the league has for the very first time now picked out the coach of the side, Paul James, for recognition.

James’ award as BBL Coach of the Month for February has come about following a blistering six victories in a row for the Wolves. The run of success began with a business-like display at Manchester Giants, followed by a stunning upset of the high-flying Newcastle Eagles on their own court. The next week saw the demolition of Mersey Tigers and a thrilling overtime win over London Lions. The perfect record was rounded off last weekend with a dismissal of Surrey Heat and another triumph in the North-East, this time at Durham Wildcats.

Though clearly thrilled, James was keen to deflect praise to his players, saying: “I’m delighted about the award. We’ve got the team playing well at the right time. It’s been a tough slog, but we now seem to be getting all the right pieces in the right places. It’s a great award for me, but the credit must go to the players for allowing the club to receive such a fabulous accolade.”

James picked out the win at Newcastle as the highlight of the unbeaten run, commenting: “We did a great job in our preparation for the game. The strategy that we put out on the floor worked well and it was a tremendous victory; not just because it was against Newcastle, but because it was on their own court in front of a massive crowd.”

Overcoming Newcastle has now led to this weekend’s two-legged BBL Trophy semi-final against Leicester Riders, with a place in the final at Glasgow, against Sheffield Sharks or Cheshire Phoenix, as the prize for the victors. James gave a brief update on preparations, saying: “We’ve been working really hard at practice and are preparing well.

“The whole semi-final tie could well be decided in the first leg on Friday, so it will be fantastic if we can get a full house behind us to give us a great chance of making it through to the final”, he added.

Supporters are advised to guarantee their admittance to Friday’s contest at the University of Worcester (tip off 7.30pm) by purchasing advance tickets from the Wolves office on 01905 542251.

The Wolves organisation has also announced the re-launch of their club website, where latest features and match reports can be found. The new website address is https://worcesterwolves.org