Dear participants,

In the link below you can find the third and fourth newsletter of the X-Mas Tournament.

Download newsletter 3
Download newsletter 4

Dear participants,

In the link below you can find the second newsletter of the X-Mas Tournament.
Download newsletter 2

The provisional group drawing has been executed and the tentative game schedule was developed. This game schedule will be online in the upcoming days !

Dear participants.
We welcome you at the 2010 Altia X-Mas Tournament !
As information is important, we will try to keep you all updates on regular base with this newsletter. All official information will be confirmed on our website, and by mail, but  we will try to inform the teams, the sponsors and those who like basketball with this newsletter.
May we ask the clubs to spread this newsletter within their organization, and especially amongst those who will participate in the 2010 Altia X-Mas Tournament.

See you all in December !

Download the newsletter here.

The U16 roster is now complete. Two clubs have been added to the roster. The first is TV Langen, a German JBBL team, that started the competition in Germany in a very strong way. The other team is the Dutch club of Bergen op Zoom, which already registered its U18 earlier on. We welcome both teams, and if none of the teams on the current roster withdrawas, we will conclude here the registrations in U16.

Taking into account the huge interest, the organizers decided to extend the roster in U14 age group to 16 teams. This allowed us to register 4 additional teams: Betafence Zwevegem (the new club in the organization), Sparta Deerlijk (Belgium), BS Weert from Holland and RSV Eintracht Brandenburg from Germany. We warmly welcome all these new participants !

Due to the very high number of interested teams, the organizing committee decided to adapt the maximum number of teams in the respective age groups. Both in U18 and U16, eightteen teams will be allowed, while the participation in U14 will most possibly be limited to twelve teams. Registrations will be on hold from now on till October 15th, date on which the already registered teams are supposed to confirm their participation by paying the warrant. Non confirmed teams will be replaced from that date on. Teams interested in registering can anyhow still contact the organization. They will for the moment be put on the reserve list and be allowed to take the possible open places.
The places that are open today in U18 and U16 are for the moment reserved for the interested national teams. Should these teams decide not to register, we will open these spots also for teams on the reserve list.

Tonight we can announce the registration of BBA Ludwigsburg in U16. This team plays in the German JBBL, the German top league for U16 teams (website: http://www.nbbl-basketball.de). Last season they were amongst the top teams in the JBBL, so they seem another tough competitor on the roster !
Herzlich willkommen !

Sheffield Junior Sharks registered today in the U16 age group. The British team is well known in Belgium as a former winner of the Flanders Basketball Trophy in Ghent ! Will they also be victorious in Kortrijk ? Come and watch them from 26 till 28 December.

Almonte Eindhoven confirmed their participation in the U18 age group. They were present last year in the same category, and have now registered in U18 and U16. A warm welcome back to the team of Maarten-Jan, and as someone mentionned in the guestbook: "Hup, Holland, hup !"

Today Montenegro showed it's firm intention to participate in U18 and U16 with national selections. Will we have our first competitor (and a serious one !) from the Balcans ? The decision will follow very soon !

Today we registered the 16th participant in the U18 age group. This was supposed to be the maximum, but the most likely involvment of BETAFENCE Zwevegem basketball club in the organization, we decided to extend the field to maximum 20 teams. The remaining places are for the time being reserved for the national teams that showed their intent to participate (Holland, Switzerland, Norway and Montenegro)

A lot of activity in the field of registrations:
- Leuven Bears, one of the better Belgian youth programs, and a participant in the tournament since the first edition, registered in the U18 category. For sure an additional tough opponent !
- Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden (Holland), last season's runner up in the Dutch U18-Eredivisie entered its U18 today. As several players of last year's team are still in the U18 group this seems also a very promising challenger !
- The last copuple of days, several teams showed their interest in participating: BBA Ludwigsburg (U16 and U14) and TSV Bayer Leverküsen (U14), both from Germany. The Sheffield Young Sharks  might add another British team in the U18 category, and the Swiss and Dutch federation will decide in a couple of days about a possible particpation with their national teams U18.

Today Almonte Eindhoven registered its U16 team. We warmly welcome the Dutch club, who participated last year in the U18 competition. The Almonte U18 team is by the way another possible participant.

In the "teams" section, the list of registered and interested teams has been updated today. As you will notice, the number of open spots is limited !

- We can announce the registration of Black Eagles Rosmalen (Holland). The Dutch club registered it's U16 and U14 teams, both playing in dutch "Eredivisie" (highest level). Black Eagles participate for the second time in the event.
- Leuven Bears, one of the better Belgian youth programs, showed their strong interest in participating in the U18 tournament. Confirmation to follow in days.
- Almonte Eindhoven, one of last year's participants, will most probably compete this year in U18, and probably in U14. Confirmation also to follow shortly.

Today, the Norvegian basketball federation declared that they are very interested in participating in the Altia X-Mas Cup with their national teams U18 and U16. Their participation would of course
be welcomed very warmly by the organizers, adding two very strong teams to the tournament roster. Confirmation to follow in a couple of weeks.

Today we are happy to welcome BBLZ Mittelhessen Giessen amongst the participants of the 2010 Altia Cup ! This German club registered in the U16 and U14 category, and will be a serious challenge for the other competitors.

Today we can announce the registration of two Dutch teams, both playing in "jeugd eredivisie" (highest youth level) in Holland. We warmly welcome WCAA Giants Bergen Op Zoom (U18) and Woodpeckers Houten (U16) ! Both teams participate for the second time in the tournament

Today we can announce that the famous "Centre de Formation" of BCM Gravelines (France) accepted in principle our invitation for the 2010 Altia X-Mas cup, in the U18 category.
We are very happy that this well known and high level team agreed to participate in the event !
More new to follow soon.

We are happy to announce that coach Van Kers, the most successfull Belgian basketball coach ever, accepted in lending his name to the MVP awards in the three age groups.
The MVP awards during the X-Mas tournament will by then be named the "Coach Van Kers Award"
 
Coach Van Kers is the former coach of (amongst others) Maes Pils Mechelen (several national titles and european final 16), SUNAIR Ostend, the Belgian and Dutch National team and is the organizer of the very famous Van Kers basketball camps (biggest camps in Belgium).
The MVP in each age group will receive his award from the hands of coach Van Kers in person.

After a first round of invitations, we are happy to present the situation of registered teams. You can find them in "teams"

Bavi Vilvoorde showed their interest for participation in the U16 and U14 tournament. Knowing that both teams are amongst the strongest in Flanders, we are very pleased by their likely participation.

We are happy to announce that today the national team of England U18 accepted our invitation.
After the registration of the Belgian national U18, England will be the second national team present.

Today we can announce the registration of another team:

Lille Métropole (Under eighteen) - FRANCE

will participate in the tournament with their Cadets France team, which is the highest category in the French byouth basketball competition. For sure a solid team !

More news to follow.

The last weeks, we contacted teams in Belgium and the neighbouring countries.
At this date, the following teams confirmed their participation in the 2010 X-Mas tournament:

U18:
Belgian National Team
CB Kortrijk Sport (BEL)
TMCI Wevelgem (BEL)
Bent Shoes Waregem (BEL)
Falco Gent (BEL)
Basket berlin Süd (GER)
Sparta Bertrange (LUX)

U16:
Flemish selection (BEL)
CB Kortrijk Sport (BEL)
TMCI Wevelgem (BEL)
Bent Shoes Waregem (BEL)
Falco Gent (BEL)
Betafence Zwevegem (BEL)
Basket berlin Süd (GER)
Sparta Bertrange (LUX)

U14:
Flemish selection (BEL)
CB Kortrijk Sport (BEL)
TMCI Wevelgem (BEL)
Bent Shoes Waregem (BEL)
Falco Gent (BEL)
Basket berlin Süd (GER)
Sparta Bertrange (LUX)

The following teams took an option on participating:

U18:
England National Team
Ipswich Tomcats (ENG)

U16:
Ipswich Tomcats (ENG)
Harlemlakers Amsterdam (HOL)
Castors Braine (BEL)

U14:
Harlemlakers Amsterdam (HOL)
Castors Braine (BEL)

More teams to follow in the coming days. Teams all over Europe are getting contacted.

Dear basketball friends

Registrations for the 2010 edition of the Altia X-Mas Cup (26-28 december 2010) are now open.
The tournament is open for Men U18, U16 and U14.
Teams interested in registering can contact the organization at:
peter.delepeleire(at)telenet.be for all further information.

Many thanks to all participants in the 2009 X-Mas Tournament ! We had three days of great basketball games.
We wish you all a safe trip home, and a marvelous 2010.
Looking forward meeting you again on the 2010 edition !!