The Mortgage Shop NI - Women’s basketball team jump through hoops to represent Northern Ireland

18 January 2008

Women’s participation in national sport received a welcome boost today with the announcement that the first women’s basketball team to represent Northern Ireland will play in the prestigious national basketball league in Ireland.

Founded just over a year ago the Mortgage Shop Rockets are the first women’s basketball team to represent Northern Ireland at a competitive national level in basketball. The Mortgage Shop Rockets will take centre court this season as a national league team and will compete against some of the most talented basketball players across Ireland.

“We are thrilled to be the first female team representing Northern Ireland clubs to be accepted into the Basketball Ireland national league,” says Geraldine Smye chairperson of the Mortgage Shop Rockets. “The Mortgage Shop Rockets was set up with the aim of ensuring that young women from across Ulster fulfil their sporting potential as athletes.  By playing in the national league we will be competing at some of the highest levels available in this sport. The ultimate ambition over the course of the next two to three years is to play in Basketball Ireland Women’s SuperLeague - a feat that has yet to be accomplished by a women’s team from Northern Ireland.”

The federated team relies on a mix of local and European talent combining the best players from basketball clubs across Northern Ireland. The Mortgage Shop Rockets also boasts the first European player to represent Northern Ireland in the national league. Roxanne Walkowska, aged 23 from Poland, has a personality big enough to match her six foot frame, moved to Newry last year having previously played in the Polish Super League. Another of the team’s star players Mairead McNally from Belfast is aged just eighteen and was recently named female player of the year by Basketball Ireland, the national governing body for basketball in Ireland. As a result of her stellar performance last season Mairead has received a one year sports scholarship to junior college in Nebraska, USA.

The team sponsor Siobhan Mc Aleer, Managing Director of the Mortgage Shop said: “Supporting the only female basketball team representing Northern Ireland is the perfect backdrop to enabling young local female athletes to excel on a national stage. Naturally we couldn't pass up the opportunity to play a major role in what promises to be an unfolding success story for Northern Irish women in sport.”

The Mortgage Shop Rockets will take on Sligo in the second game of the season at St Malachy’s College Belfast on 4^thNovember, following last weeks season opener against Dublin team Drimnagh.

U.S. Consul General in Northern Ireland Susan Elliott added: “In recent years, the Consulate has been proud to support a number of exciting basketball initiatives that unite communities, embrace diversity and improve the standard of the sport.  We are delighted that the ‘Rockets’ are taking basketball to an even higher level and we wish them every success in the national league.”

A major drive to encourage more women to participate in basketball known as ‘The Year of Women’s Basketball’ has just concluded in Ireland after research by the sports governing body highlighted that many females quit playing basketball shortly after primary school.