"The origin of the current basketball movement in Newtown stems back to 2000 when I formed a team with a group of about a dozen friends. At that time competitive fixtures were few and far between, but week after week we trained in the tiny High School gym pushing each other to improve and get stronger.

Soon enough the existence of the team became the focal point of most of our lives and within a year or two I started to feel the hunger to challenge myself at a higher level. Whilst many of the side would move on to other pursuits and the group would eventually disband, I was lucky enough to captain Shropshire in the National League in 2004-2005 and be picked for the Welsh junior team shortly thereafter.

In May 2006 I was selected by the BAW (Basketball Association of Wales) to be one of 4 players to attend the inaugural Great Britain U20 trials. On the road to this relative success, I began to develop a keen passion for coaching the game, and thus the Titans were born.

The Newtown Titans were officially formed in 2005 although I have been coaching many of the team's current members for over three years. When I was 15 , I was asked to assist in the High School practices for the younger children, and as the years progressed that responsibility eventually grew into running and organising practices.

Last September I started my first year of university in Worcester, but arranged a series of friendly fixtures for the Titans against English National League opposition. The lads performed well in those games and so I took it upon myself to attempt to lay out a relatively busy schedule of matches for the 2005-2006 season. Twelve games were ultimately played by the Titans during this campaign, against many of the best sides in English and Welsh basketball. Of course this somewhat regular occurrence of matches meant that I had to travel home weekends from Worcester, with Dominic McQue, one of 2 assistant coaches, coming down from Chester University to help out also.

Some people may ask why myself, Dominic and David Perkins (another periodic assistant coach) sacrifice a lot of our time to coach the basketball in Newtown. The answer is simple: we enjoy it. Watching a lot of these lads develop as players and people has been a joy and the positive remarks of many of their parents has made the effort worthwhile. I can honestly say that apart from the stress of traveling home on game days, there haven't been any lowpoints during the whole experience thus far.

It is no secret that in many areas of the country, basketball is a minority sport and Mid Wales is no different. Had we not formed a side back when we were at the school, the current crop of youngsters probably would not be playing the game either.

There is no formal introduction to basketball in this part of the world except for the odd P.E. lesson. Such teachers do a terrific job in my opinion of covering the basic points of the game, but then if a pupil wishes to play competitively or for a club, there is no outlet for him to pursue. That is the reason why we set up the Titans club, to give young players a chance to play basketball at a very good level.

Our following or support varies from a few parents to a band of youngsters following our games at Maldwyn Leisure Centre. We would like to attract more interest and hopefully as more players and subsequently families get involved we shall do so.

I take training with the team as much as I can during term-time, although the lads who are at the High School have been playing twice a week at lunchtime when I am away. We have a policy that absolutely anyone can join the team, and although many of our players attend Newtown High, anybody under 16 can get involved. I suggest interested players look at our website www.newtowntitans.com if they wish to be a part of the team. The future looks bright for the Newtown Titans and we hope to continue for as long as a basketball bounces in the area. "

Written by Guy Evans from Newtown