DURHAM Wildcats officially launched their new era as a professional outfit yesterday, with three months to go until their debut in the British Basketball League.

The Wildcats, who were only formed in 2005, reached the top division in the national amateur leagues, but announced last month that they had been awarded a spot at English basketball's top table - where they will face a mouthwatering derby with Newcastle Eagles.

Yesterday saw Newton Aycliffe Leisure Centre host an afternoon of basketball to officially launch the Wildcats' journey into the professional echelons, attended by former Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Rubbing shoulders with the best basketball teams in the country is a job that Wildcats' head coach Dave Elderkin cannot wait to begin, after working their way from National League divisions four to one in six years.

"We were highly competitive last year, but what we learned in the first division is that it is difficult to play part-time," explained Elderkin, who last coached in the BBL while at Newcastle Comets - now Eagles - in 1996.

"We've restructured the club, we have more postgraduate players involved now so we potentially have players who can play basketball full-time. That will prepare us. We need to raise fitness levels. That's what the initial part of pre-season is about. If we can do that and play with confidence, we'll be fine in the BBL.

"It's been 15 years since I coached in the BBL, I'm looking forward to getting back to that."

The Wildcats will retain the same core of players who started out in 2005, a squad which has grown organically. But now, with the lure of the BBL, the Wildcats will be able to attract foreign interest.

Elderkin said: "We're allowed to play three non-national players, so I'm talking to a number of NCAA Division One players in America who are graduating, who just haven't had the luck to find a team. I'm prepared to give them a chance.

"We're pretty close to getting them. If we can get those guys right, and it's not an exact science, then I think we'll be good in year one."

BBL chairman - and Eagles owner - Paul Blake is particularly excited about the derby games which could renew a local sporting rivalry not seen in Durham since the Whitley Warriors and the Durham Wasps in ice hockey.

Blake said: "From an Eagles perspective, it's local competition. We're going to have to bring our A game as a club, most of all for me, I've been itching for a derby. Our derby is Sheffield or Glasgow, and that's not really a derby is it?

"I'm really looking forward to our team coming here and also bringing Durham to us. There should be some rumbles this year and hopefully we can get six points."