Gaskin and Hart put on Euro alert (From Echo)

Gaskin and Hart put on Euro alert

10:31am Thursday 2nd July 2009 in

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THERE is further international success for Southend Swifts with two more members being selected for England duty in the European Championships. Christina Gaskin and Joe Hart have been picked for their respective under-16 teams who will compete in the forthcoming weeks. For Gaskin it is a remarkable achievement as she did not play for the entire 2008/9 season due to an anterior cruciate ligament injury that required 12 months rehabilitation. Her team goes to Estonia where they meet Ukraine, Portugal and Holland between July 30 and August 3. Hart will captain the boys' team who play in Portugal. They will also take on Finland, Georgia, Ireland and Denmark from August 6-9. Depending on the results, both teams will then move on to play for final positions.

Swifts chairman Paul May said, “Once again the whole of our club is thrilled at the achievements of two of our players. “Christina has shown tremendous mental strength in dealing with missing a whole year of play and we all have huge admiration at how hard she has worked. “Both players joined us at a very early age — Joe was actually just eight years old — and have worked their way up through our system. “Our head coach Stephen Pearl has given them the opportunity to play at older age groups, thereby gaining greater experience against physically stronger opponents.

“This has, yet again, proven to be exactly the right strategy. We all take great pride that we continue to produce our own players who are able to succeed on the international stage.”

This week also sees the start of Swifts summer playing programme when they stage the first two of eight games against visiting teams from across the Atlantic who are from the North West Basketball Camps organisation. The opening fixtures see two Swifts girls teams take on Canadian opposition tonight at Eastwood High School, with the first game starting at 6 pm.