York is set to become home to the first-ever basketball academy in Yorkshire, the Evening Press can exclusively reveal.

And through this scheme, the city will also house a new National Basketball League junior team good enough to compete with the best young players in the country.

Furthermore, with the ever-growing sport appearing set to take off in the area, plans could be put in place to develop a York team strong enough to enter the senior national league set-up, the top division of which is the televised professional league.

The academy will be based at York College and will be connected to York Vikings Basketball Club, which also has junior teams and a senior side.Sports academy co-ordinator at the college Gordon Staniforth said: "We've run a football academy for two years and that's been very successful, and we've now got another branch to the academy.

"The mix of academic work and expert coaching is very successful and we're looking forward to starting in basketball.

"English Basketball Association director of coaching Dave Smith, who is also chairman of the York and District Basketball Forum, has done a lot of work towards the scheme, which will see the academy team compete in next season's National Junior League North Conference, starting in October.

He said: "It's the best basketball opportunity for anyone aged 16 to 19 in the region in terms of education, training, coaching and national league competition.

York College will be holding a basketball trial and presentation afternoon for potential students and parents on Thursday, July 5, starting at 4pm.

Anyone interested in signing up for the academy can go along on the day, although it would be preferable to first contact academy co-ordinator Gordon Staniforth on 01904 770482 for more information.

Updated: 09:49 Wednesday, June 27, 2001