Arnold Clark is delighted to announce our sponsorship of Caledonia Pride for the 2018/19 Women’s British Basketball League (WBBL) season.
As well as providing shirt sponsorship, Arnold Clark is the driving force behind Caledonia Pride’s ‘team of the week’ initiative.
The WBBL comprises 11 teams featuring the top talent in the country. Caledonia Pride will take to the floor against Newcastle Eagles for the first game of the season on 30th September with a home tie at the University of Edinburgh.
After representing Great Britain over the summer at various age levels, Pride were delighted to welcome back team members Hannah Robb, Shawnisay Millar and Pollyanna Storie ahead of the new season.
Great Britain U20 internationalist Hannah Robb said: ‘Last year was a massive learning experience for me and it was so fun to be a part of Pride. The win over Sheffield in our first home game last year really sticks out as one of the best games I have been a part of and I am really excited to be back with such a great programme this season.
‘The set-up that we have here in Scotland is brilliant and is really helping to bring young Scottish talent through the pathway. Working with Arnold Clark will allow us to reach more young girls across Scotland and expose them to top level basketball in Britain.’
Shawnisay Millar has spent the summer as part of the Great Britain U18 squad and is also looking forward to getting back out on court. She said: ‘I have learnt a lot from being a part of the Pride programme and am really looking forward to the challenge of another WBBL campaign with the girls this year. We have learnt lots about what it takes to compete in the WBBL and we will be aiming to get better and learn throughout the whole season.’
At just 15 years of age, Pollyanna Storie made her debut for Caledonia Pride in the WBBL last year and represented the Great Britain U16 team this summer. She added: ‘Last year was a huge opportunity for me and I learnt so much from being in the programme – this year will be another fun challenge and I can’t wait for the season to start.’
Arnold Clark’s Group Head of People Lynne McBurney said: ‘We are so excited to support Caledonia Pride for a further year, especially with their strong focus on developing home-grown talent. At Arnold Clark, we want to support athletes and teams that make a sincere effort not only to succeed in their own arena, but to also make a positive impact on their local community, which Caledonia Pride embodies.
‘Their activity in promoting youth sport and developing pathways is in line with much of the work that we do within our Gear Up For Sport initiative which, since its launch in 2014, has provided hundreds of kits to under-16s grassroots and schools teams across the UK in a diverse range of sports, including basketball, football, rugby and cricket.
‘We’re proud to keep building our relationship with Caledonia Pride, a club that truly understands the importance of engaging the community with the benefits that come with being active from a young age.’
We caught up with the team and their Head Coach, Bart Sengers, at the University of Edinburgh to find out what the sponsorship means to the team as they build towards the 2018/19 season.