EVERYTHING is on the up among the York Eagles Basketball Club. The four teams which comprise the club – the under-14s, U15s, U16s and U18s – have just embarked on the second half of the current season with hopes sky-high of Yorkshire title success.

The Eagles’ eyrie is at York College in Sim Balk Lane, where training is held twice weekly and where home matches are played.

They are headed by coach Dave Smith, who is also the area performance coach for Yorkshire.

The U15s began the business end of the campaign in recordbreaking form when they posted their biggest triumph so far of the season – a 124-32 demolition of Rotherham.

Not to be outdone, the U14s dealt out an almost as emphatic 81-26 larruping of Leeds.

The crunch collisions for the U14s will come at the tail end of the season when they take on duels against Cheshire twice, Stockport and Bradford – three testing rivals.

Over the last few years, the link between the Eagles and the College has developed into as strong as the best of point guards at the basketball net.

A crop of U16 have players frequently gone on to study at the Sim Balk Lane establishment, which also houses a Basketball Development Centre, one of the few such sites in the north of England.

“It’s all building up towards a promising finish to the season,” said Smith.

“The teams know they have to continue their hard work and application both in training and out on the court on matchdays.

But things are looking good.”