BAL (basketball club)

Basketball Academie Limburg, commonly known as BAL, is a professional basketball club based in Weert, Limburg, Netherlands. The club was founded in 2013 as an academy to develop youth players from the province of Limburg. The club entered the Dutch Basketball League for the 2017–18 season after the dissolution of the professional team BSW.

For the defunct professional basketball club from Weert, see BSW (basketball club).

BAL
Leagues	Dutch Basketball League
Founded	9 April 2013 (2013-04-09)
History	BAL (2013–present)
Arena	Sporthal Boshoven
Capacity	1,000
Location	Weert, Limburg, Netherlands
President	Jeroen van Veen[1]
Head coach	Radenko Varagic
2018–19 position	DBL, 9th of 9
Website	basketballpromotielimburg.nl
Home Away

Former logo of the club, used until 2017

History

Foundation

The club was established on 9 April 2013 to function as a club for regional talent from the province of Limburg. In its first years, the team played with several youth teams in domestic competitions.

In the 2017 offseason the professional club BSW from Weert and BAL intended a merger, which would integrate BSW into BAL.[2] Following BSW going defunct during this offseason, BAL decided to take its place in the DBL. As BAL played in the same home arena and the team consisted of several of the same players, the team can be considered a phoenix club.

First DBL seasons

In its debut season, BAL finished in the ninth and last place in the DBL, winning 4 out of its 32 games. The team consisted of a selection of young promising players, such as guard Sam van Dijk who was named the DBL Most Improved Player in the club's debut season. On 1 August 2018, BAL signed its first ever foreign player when American center Tony Washington signed for one year.[3] In its second season, BAL once again finished last in the DBL with this time five wins in 2018–19.

Season by season

Season	Tier	League	Finish	Wins	Losses	Win%	Playoffs	NBB Cup	Head coach
BAL
2017–18	1	DBL	8th	4	28	.125	–	Withdrew	Radenko Varagić
2018–19	1	DBL	9th	5	29	.147	–	Eightfinals
2019–20[note 1]	1	DBL	6th	9	15	.375	Season curtailed due to COVID-19 pandemic	Eightfinals
2020–21	1	DBL				–

Players

Current roster

BAL roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. SF 4 Ackermans, Tom 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) SG – de Vries, Jef G 6 de Windt, Jamayro 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) G 7 Hollanders, Sander 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) SF – Jasinsky, Trevor 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) PF – Masnic, Neil 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) PF 12 Nossek, Wietze 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) PG 5 Simic, Ivan 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) F 13 Vrede, Nathilio 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) PF – Wilson, Quattarius 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) F 8 Wirjo, Elay 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in)	Head coach Radenko Varagic Assistant coach(es) Chris van Dinten Koen van Gerwen Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Development player (I) Import player Injured Roster Updated: 15 July 2020

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.

Individual awards

DBL Most Improved Player

• Sam van Dijk – 2018

DBL All-Rookie Team

• Jacco Fritz – 2018
• Nino Gorissen – 2018
• Ivan Simic – 2019

Top scorers by seasons

Season	Name	PPG
2017–18	Sam van Dijk	12.2
2018–19	Tony Washington	12.2
2019–20	Trey Burch-Manning	14.5

Head coaches

Coach	Nationality	Tenure
Radenko Varagić	Serbia	2017–present

Notes

1. The 2019–20 season was ended in March 2020 prematurely because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

1. BAL verwelkomt plan voor invoering BENE-League
2. "BSW wordt Basketbal Academie Limburg en wil nieuwe hal". L1Limburg.nl. Retrieved 2017-10-17.
3. "BAL Weert haalt Amerikaanse center in huis". 1Limburg - Nieuws en sport uit Limburg. 1 August 2018. Retrieved 20 October 2019.

External links

• Eurobasket.com BAL Page