The day after the City Of Culture verdict was announced, I had watched the kids of the Soccer Summer Camp display their football skills in the Guildhall Square. Now, more than two weeks later, it was time for me to witness skills of another kind; in the very middle of Foyleside Shopping Centre!
She shoots, she scores...
On Saturday, Derry’s North Star Basketball Club teamed up with Cash For Kids to run an all-day charity competition. Anyone who felt like taking part was offered three attempts at scoring as many baskets as they possibly could. The more they scored, the greater the chance they had of winning two tickets to next week’s Belfast Basketball Classic event in the Odyssey. The consolation prize was a meal in the City Hotel.
Even if you didn’t win either prize, participating would give you a welcome opportunity to meet and watch members of North Star, and also sharpen up your own shooting skills. On a personal level, the latter was something I found especially useful, as having not played the sport for years, my own skills were admittedly a little rusty. The same, however, could not be said of many of the children who took part in this popular event; their enthusiasm was infectious.
You could certainly argue that I had stumbled across another event that both showcased and developed emerging talent in our little city.
Fionnuala Flynn (far left) of North Star, with colleagues
