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Celebrating 28 years
of outstanding international basketball competition and friendship!

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Our first Colonials' team with our first overseas' hosts, the Gloster Timber, in Gloucester, England in April 1981. Gloucester coach Paul Christensen (with beard) has developed this program -- now known as Southwest England Basketball - into one of the UK's largest and most successful basketball programs.

OUR MISSION

The New England Colonials International Basketball Club is a non-profit program that has as its central purpose the encouragement and support of international friendship between New England student athletes and their peers from other nations.

While basketball serves as a focal point and a catalyst for our programs and tours, we also endeavor to involve all participants in activities that promote understanding and appreciation for other societies and cultures. New England students selected to take part in Colonials' programs and tours must demonstrate a high level of commitment to school, community, and our program's mission and goals.

Welcome Home, Coach Harrington!
 
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SPC Jason Harrington of Abington, MA, a coach on three Colonials' Rovers tours, safely returned stateside after a tour of duty with Army Intelligence in Iraq. While in Iraq, Coach Harrington (in photo with Senator John Kerry) communicated on a regular basis with his former Colonials' players and colleagues, providing a dramatic personal perspective on daily life in the war zone.

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2007: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Sweden - Our Most Exciting Year Ever!

Our 2007 Ambassadors team celebrated our 27th year with a demanding ten-day tour that included games in Vienna, Sopron in Hungary, Prague, and Frankfurt. As on all Colonials' tours, our players resided with host families at each stop on their itinerary.

While our Ambassadors were on the continent last April, our young Rovers team played in Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland and made a journey across the Irish Sea to visit and play our great friends from St. Malachy's College in Belfast. The City of Edinburgh Basketball Club in Scotland's capital has been added to our growing list of good friends worldwide.

In August, our Colonials' newest Colonials team - the Spirit - represented the USA in the highly respected Flanders Trophy Tournament in Ghent, Belgium. This wonderful basketball event annually draws top boys and girls teams from 25 nations. Our Spirit team went 6-1 in the tournament to finish 3rd in a strong field of 24 teams. The Colonials program is proud to have sent the first team to represent the United States in the Flanders Trophy Tournament.

From Ghent, the Spirit team traveled on to Hamburg in Germany and Lund in Sweden, finishing a terrific tour as guests of the wonderful young players of the Falcon Basketball Club in Copenhagen, Denmark. An unforgettable '07 Colonials' season will conclude this October when we welcome the St. Mirren Basketball Club of Glasgow for a week-long New England tour.
 
To learn where our Colonials teams will play in 2008, please visit the Our Tours section of our website.


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The '07 Colonials Spirit with the Sheffield Junior Sharks, England's 2007 Club champions. The Sharks topped the Spirit in a terrific semifinal game at the Flanders Trophy Tournament.

ABOUT THE COLONIALS

Basketball - born in the USA in 1891 - is now truly an international game, played in nearly 190 countries worldwide. The New England Colonials International Basketball Club is proud to have introduced hundreds of New England student athletes to the excitement of international competition and world travel. Additionally, we have welcomed hundreds of guests from overseas to our country for camps, summer hosting, team tours and international festivals.

Colonials' teams do not hold tryouts and are not all-star teams. Applicants should be serious players with a strong desire to improve their game and a real sense of adventure. We rely on the quality of an applicant's references and responses to the application questions. A number of our players are referred by former players and coaches. Players and families are invited to call or meet with us before submitting an application. We will be happy to put applicants in touch with our Colonials' alumni and families throughout New England.

Our fundraising program enables all players to raise the money needed to meet their tour expenses. We urge all interested players to apply. There are several stipends available for individuals with financial need. Introductory team and fundraising planning meetings will be held in the fall. Regular e-newsletters keep parents and players up to date about all aspects of the tours as our planning progresses through the winter.

Accepted players are expected to maintain a strong standing in the school and in the community. Colonials teams do not begin practicing until the school basketball seasons for all players have been completed, usually in March. Practices are held on weekends up to the team's departure and are mandatory for all players. We attempt to arrange practices in locations central to the geographic distribution of the team.

Please Note: All Colonials players and families are required to participate in the program's hosting program for visiting players and teams. This is our way of repaying the exceptional hospitality we receive when overseas. If you cannot meet this requirement, please do not submit an application.

Colonials' basketball operations and teams are supervised and coordinated by Tom Ackerman of Rutand, MA, Peter Boyle of Brattleboro, VT, Dennis Dextradeur of Barre, MA, Daniel Atkinson of Springfield College, Greg Gillette of Nashua, NH and David Harder of Copenhagen, Denmark. The program's travel and fundraising planning is coordinated by Scott Bryson, an ITMI certified international tour planner and manager with 30 years of international travel experience.

To learn how you can host an International Colonials player next summer or help arrange a visit and games for the International Colonials in your community, please call us at 508-668-1935, or send us an email at necolonials@aol.com.

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CONTACT US

Contact the New England Colonials at:

necolonials@aol.com or
P: 508-668-1935 Fax: 508-668-2017

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