Bradford Dragons harnessing region's basketball talent despite KitKing Trophy final defeat

Chris Mellor believes the Dragons are maximising the local basketball talent in the West Yorkshire area better than they ever done in the 23 years since he took the first practice session at a gym in Keighley.

It is that bigger picture that sustains him now as he reflects on their 89-74 defeat to Derby Trailblazers in the National Basketball League Division One’s KitKing Trophy final in Loughborough on Saturday.

“I started this club in 2001 with six junior players in a little gym in Keighley,” says Mellor, who is the senior team’s head coach.

“We had no venue, no coaches, no players – and here we are 23 years later. The club is in the best place it’s ever been in from a junior standpoint, we’ve got four junior coaches, U14s, 16s and 18s, we’ve got U10s and 12s running on a Saturday morning – 120 kids in total.”

He puts this ability to harness the local talent down to the strength of coaching at the club, an international mix of talent from South Africa, Poland and the Czech Republic that is bringing the next generation of Dragons on leaps and bounds.

“This is the best state our juniors has ever been in and that’s due to the quality of the coaching,” Mellor tells The Yorkshire Post.

“We’ve dropped lucky, coaches in the past have either been volunteers or players.”

The pride comes with a caveat, though. Bradford Dragons are the second highest-ranked senior men’s basketball team in Yorkshire, behind Sheffield Sharks in the British Basketball League – where the money involved to compete is out of the realms of what Bradford can afford.

Below them on a more local level are the Calderdale Explorers and West Yorkshire Hawks who both play two divisions below Dragons.

“We’ve got the local talent boxed off,” continues Mellor.

“It’s good in one way but not so in another. If you’re in the Derby, Loughborough, Nottingham and Birmingham area, all four Division One teams are in the middle so the talent pool is very big, whereas in Bradford it’s fairly small.

“We’re the only ticket in town with Newcastle the closest in the north and the Midlands clubs to the south.

“The downside to that with only one team at that level is there’s not enough competition.

“The Hawks and Explorers are in Division Three, but it’s a big jump from Div Three to Div One.”

Having been involved with the Dragons from the very outset, Saturday was a proud day for Mellor and the many volunteers and players who have dedicated so much of their time to basketball in the Bradford area.

The only sadness was that they were unable to stop Division One leaders and Trophy favourites Derby Trailblazers from claiming the trophy.

“We dug ourselves a 20-point hole and we got ourselves out of it to seven points with five minutes to go,” says Mellor.

“But credit to them, they shot the ball better than us, 13 from 23 from three-point range compared to our 13 from 40. We’re a three-point shooting team but 40 is too many for us. Their defence forced us into it but we should have played more on the inside.”

It has whet their appetite to launch another tilt at the National Basketball League play-off final. With their place in the top eight all-but assured, Mellor hopes the run to the Trophy final will give them belief in the post-season.

“On our day we can beat anybody, there’s no doubt about it, we’ve got the talent,” he says.

“In any sport in a one-off game, anything can happen. At the minute it’s looking like we’ll play Hemel or Essex. We’ve beaten Hemel already on their court.

“I’m really proud of what we’ve achieved in the Trophy – hopefully we can now get to the play-off final.”