The Whelan brothers, Patrick and Jordan, are set to play each other competitively at basketball for the very first time – in the showpiece BBL (British Basketball League) Cup Final. Patrick, who left Bolton School in 2014, will line up for the Leicester Riders and Jordan will be in the Manchester Giants team as they square up to one another on Sunday 30 January at the Utilita Stadium in Birmingham.
The boys grew up in Culcheth near Warrington and were well-known for their basketball prowess – they were often spotted battling it out on their driveway!
Ahead of the match, both players spoke to the Daily Mirror and remembered their brother Daniel, who died aged 18 in 2010 after contracting meningitis. Daniel had been a role model to his younger brothers and had played basketball and rugby for Bolton School.
Jordan said: “As far as basketball, I think me and Pat always play for him in a way.
“At that point, when it happened, our vision of basketball and our dreams picked up where his dreams were and what he wanted to do when he was playing basketball.
“It gave us that extra motivation to push ourselves to get better and to be more disciplined.
“It definitely helped in that way for us.”
It will be a big day for the Whelan family and Patrick said: “Especially coming from a basketballing family and you have your parents drive you from practice almost every day as a kid.
“It’s cool for them I think to sit back and actually get to enjoy a game that’s at the highest level and they can see where their work has paid off as well as ours.
“They’re definitely proud and it’s probably a good sense of validation of how they raised us and how it all turned out.”
You can watch a video and read about the two brothers in this Daily Mirror article.
You can watch a video interview with the two brothers with Sky Sports here.
