Yabsley set for Aussie Games

MARTIN YABSLEY has been named in England's Commonwealth Games squad. The Guernseyman is part of a 22-man squad that will travel to the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

'It's an honour to be selected,' said the 6ft 9in. former St Peter Port School pupil.

'It's been hard work but it is definitely something I've been working towards and from a career point of view it's good.

'I'm really looking forward to going to Australia as I've heard that the facilities are second to none.'

The 25-year-old plays in the British Basketball League for the Birmingham Bullets and he is the only player from his club to be selected. The England squad meets up for three-day camps every two months and they have an upcoming competition in Luxembourg where they face Luxembourg, Iceland and Belarus, among others.

England's head coach Peter Scantlebury has announced the Games squad a year early for a good reason, said Yabsley.

'The squad was picked early so to get a cohesive unit together,' he said.

'They are a great bunch of guys and we're all pretty young. We all get on well and the coach wants us to grow together as a team.

'We've got no real stars, we're a team.'

England has already qualified for the basketball tournament at the 2006 Games but they have a match against Luxembourg in August that will affect their world ranking for the event.

Favourites for the gold in Melbourne are Australia and Canada.

The Canadain team could benefit from having two NBA players in their ranks. Steve Nash of the Pheonix Suns and Jamaal Magloire of the New Orleans Hornets are both Canadian and may travel to Australia next year.

Coming against players of this calibre is something that Yabsley hopes to doing on a regular basis as he looks to make a name for himself in the Spanish leagues next season.

His contract with the Bullets expires at the end of the month and he currently divides his time coaching in Birmingham and playing for Mercia in the LEB league in Spain every Wednesday and Thursday night. The LEB is one ladder below the top Spanish league, the ABC, and Yabsley has an agent out there organising trials for him.

Yabsley hopes to play in the ABC next season and definitely not for the East Midlands outfit.

'There is not much of a gap between the leagues in Spain, Italy and Greece with the NBA now,' he said.

'England is a stepping stone for me in my career and Spain is where I want to go. It's not easy out there but it is something I need to do.

'I'm not coming back to this franchise. I've made that mistake before.'