About Us

 
Hello. Many thanks for visiting our Website. If you are here, this means that you KNOW what the Basketball is!

....One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team...

We are LITTLEPORT LIONS! Our team consists of entirely of Lithuanians.

Basketball in Lithuania.
There are two kinds of sports in Lithuania: basketball, and the rest. Basketball occupies the same share of Lithuanians’ hearts as football does in the majority of other European nations. The biggest business interests related to sport are also concentrated around basketball.
Basketball is one of the most popular sports in Lithuania. For millions of people all over the world, it was precisely basketball that put the name of Lithuania on the map together with its star players such as Arvydas Sabonis, Šarūnas Jasikevičius, Arvydas Macijauskas, Žydrūnas Ilgauskas, coaches, referees and organizers. In a relatively short history of Lithuanian basketball (the first basketball game took place in 1922), the men's national team won three Olympic bronze medals, three times was the European champion, and once earned European silver. The Lithuanian national women’s team also took gold and silver in European championships. Youth and junior basketball teams of Lithuania also are recent champions of Europe. 

ABOUT US FROM BBC News:

‘’The news that Littleport has a basketball team won't come as a surprise - but the fact that it consists entirely of Lithuanians might.
The Littleport Lions are currently in their first season in the Peterborough Basketball League after a recruitment drive among local immigrants.

Player Tadas Vaitkus said: "We grew up playing it and it's always great to get back on court and shoot some hoops. "It's something we look forward to every week."

The team have been calling Littleport Leisure Centre home after forming in 2009.
Tom Hickson, sports development officer at East Cambridgeshire District Council, helped create a basketball team when funding was made available to develop activities for the growing Lithuanian community in the Ely area.

Life improving
The number of Lithuanians immigrating to East Cambridgeshire is second only to Polish newcomers, with Lithuanians accounting for about 17% of arrivals.

The team is open to anyone who wants to get on the court but the popularity of the sport in Lithuania has made it irresistible to Tadas and some of his friends.
He said: "It's like an unofficial religion pretty much. "We play in the World Championships, European Championships. It's the number one sport, any way you look at it."

The Littleport Lions are keen to welcome new players, Lithuanian or otherwise. Get in touch with the Littleport Leisure Centre for more details.’’