Picture caption: Left to right: Hannah Ling, Year 9, Kamilah Yakubu, Year 10, and Angel Whyte, Year 10.
Bristol Metropolitan Academy’s growing national basketball profile has resulted in not just one of its students being called up to the England basketball team, but three!
Hannah Ling, who is in Year 9, Kamilah Yakubu, who is in Year 10, and Angel Whyte, also in Year 10, have all been selected to play for England.
This comes just a month after Bristol Metropolitan’s under 16s team earned a runners-up spot at the national schools competition.
Hannah, Kamilah and Angel started playing in Year 7 aged 11, and each has since gone on to compete outside of schools competition. Hannah now plays for Bristol Met Mambas; Kamilah plays for Bristol Flyers and Angel also plays for Bristol Flyers.
The girls were spotted and made the England squad after taking part in national trials. They then joined a training session with the England team in Manchester.
Since that training session, Hannah has played for the under 14 squad at a tri nations tournament held in Dundee and the squad won the competition. Kamilah played in Spain for the England under 15 team and Angel has played in Serbia, again for the under 15s.
Hannah Wallace, PE teacher at Bristol Metropolitan Academy, said: “All three girls are a great talent and deserve the recognition by Basketball England.
“As a school we are so proud of their achievement and will continue to support them to reach their potential. I hope they can inspire a future generation of female athletes to get involved with the sport and explore where it can take them. Well done girls!”
