This edition of The Post Up from MVP brings you more exclusive insights and interviews.
In this edition, we get the view from Manchester Giants head coach Lloyd Gardner on re-rebuilding better and how the demise of the Royals came with some rewards. We go through each team in the WBBL as its new season begins and hear from Holly Winterburn on why moving to London was her best option to avoid stagnation.
Jules Dang Akodo fills us in on what he learnt from decamping at a young age to play in Slovenia while Josh Ward-Hibbert tells us about just why he can identify with Emma Raducanu’s meteoric rise as a former tennis prodigy before his return to basketball, and why Lions want to make themselves at home in Europe.
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Gardner planting seeds to allow Giants to sprout
It was an audacious coup that relied as much on past history as grand promises of the present for a successful orchestration.
The chance conversations that turned into discussions that became negotiations to bring one of British basketball’s most-admired exports back from exile.
Dan Clark to Manchester Giants, a summer signing that caught many off-guard. In Spain since the middle of his teens but seeking a reason to come home, who else should the Great Britain captain turn to but someone he has known for most of his 33 years?
Lloyd Gardner wanted to establish a domestic core when he agreed to turn a mid-season rescue mission into a permanent gig. “High character pieces,” he underlines.
Who better a fit for that description than the Londoner who – aside from a spell in Macedonia – has spent all his playing days in a country with the second-best league in the world behind the NBA?
Clark, never a shrinking violet in putting forth his views, is an old-fashioned influencer of huge value, you sense.
“I think Dan does that naturally,” Gardner outlines in the latest edition of the MVP Cast.
“He’s a very experienced player. He's been across Europe, he's played at a really high level. and he is a leader in himself as well.
“So he brings the expectation to the rest of the team, in the way that they're executing, the way that they're practising and the way they're doing everything.
“Naturally, he does a really good job of talking both collectively to the group and to individuals as well, with little bits where he can help them. And I feel that I get along well with Dan.
“He's one of those type of guys who loves to challenge - he wants to make everything better. He's as competitive person as I am. So we would be stupid not to lean on his experience.
“But at the same time ,I feel like with some of our other guys, we did the same thing. We've obviously got guys with experience within the BBL. Then we've also got guys like Will Saunders and Josh Steel who have played in different countries abroad as well and they bring their experiences.
“I think that balance of coaching is always trying to make sure you are still the leader at the top but you want to listen to the opinions of your players and take what they're feeding back to you - and take it and make it better and then push the team on.”
These, lest we forget, are still early days in Gardner’s professional coaching career despite almost two decades in the broader trade.
Hugely admired for his work at the Barking Abbey Academy, he took a leap of faith when surprisingly approached to guide London City Royals in their second season in the BBL, only to manage decline, then evaporation, when the owners unceremoniously pulled the plug on this ill-fated and expensive experiment.
With minimal warning, it left Gardner out of work, despite a CV that also includes a spell as GB assistant coach. Unlike some – those whose contracts were rendered worthless overnight - he does not see the Royals as a disastrous blemish, however.
“Even though it was a disastrous ending, I look back at the relationship I have with a lot of the players from the Royals as well,” he declares. “And I think we went through a lot, which brought us pretty close together. So I enjoy seeing them and watching how successful they've been since that moment.
“And it has actually opened some doors for me personally that probably wouldn't have been there if I hadn't taken that leap of faith.”
A push Gardner maybe required. “Getting older, I've definitely learned to be a bit more adventurous and things like that, rather than safe. Because, you know, planning can be great.
“But then the pandemic comes around, you don't really know what's around the corner. So, I think it was a bit of a defining moment for me, in terms of a personal journey, for sure.”
The summons to Manchester last March when Danny Byrne was surprisingly ousted came from Giants executive Jamie Edwards, whose bold promises at the outset of his reign had yet to translate into significant gains.
A business and motivational coach with a habit of speaking in tongues, Edwards – once a player himself - found an ideal complement in hiring the straight-taking Gardner. They work well in unison, the latter confirms.
“You can talk to him about the way things should be and what needs to improve and he gets it,” he says. “He absolutely understands where the club needs to go where it needs to make these improvements
“His background in basketball is absolutely even bigger bonus, because not only does he understand elite sport, he also understands the game.”
Gardner too. He has travelled extensively and gained insights and he has seen basketball at elite and grassroots in various forms.
Ideally-positioned, thus, to consider what the best map might be if the British game is to utilise whatever investment it can find and seek better returns.
“What I don't think the BBL has successfully done yet is truly provide a consistent pathway for players to come through. I don't think it's truly given an alternative option for kids going to the US. And I think that's probably the growth that I would look at, as somebody who's been involved in that that side of things.
“Trying to set things up that we can start to see younger players coming through and truly making an impact and being, like a Cameron Hildreth last year in the rotation at Surrey and playing. I would love to be part of a club that does that.”
What the UK needs, many argue, is more Barking Abbeys, and less of the piecemeal that presently exists. Well-intentioned clubs, acting in isolation, the sum of the parts not adding up to less than what a whole should potentially be.
As imperfect a science as talent generation can be, there is a blueprint available, Gardner underlines.
“If Spain could have the academy structure that we have, they would do it. But they don't have that opportunity.
“So I think that is the strongest probably element of our entire development pathway or even British basketball at this moment in time - the academy structure that we have.
“We've got to continue - and it's been identified - trying to attract younger players into it, trying to raise the level of the players going into the academy structure.”
For now though, it is elevating Manchester Giants into the BBL elite that will consume his attentions.
A genuine shift away from a team reliant on part-time performers living locally, to a squad where quality imports and notable Brits ply their trade and seek silverware rather than scrambling for wins here and there.
Hopefully, Gardner underlines, they can be more competitive than we were last year.
“On the floor, we need to perform better and get better results than we did.
“Off the floor, we need to move forward in terms of having more professional players, being able to house them better, being able to look after them off the floor with medical and everything like that, better than traditionally was done in the past.
“Absolutely, the steps are there. Manchester is a sporting city. It's a basketball city, in many senses as well. And it deserves a professional franchise which is up there with the top in the BBL.”
How long does that process take from now to completion? “I'm not really sure,” he acknowledges.
“If you look at the traditional powers of the BBL, Lions, Newcastle, Leicester, if they're seen as the top three at this moment in time, well, those are clubs that have had probably ten years on what Jamie and the management here have for the Manchester Giants.
“So I think the plan is to move it forward and to keep pushing forward. But at the moment, there's still a lot that we've got to do to get better.”
Listen to more from Lloyd on this week’s edition of the MVP Cast
WBBL Preview
The Women’s British Basketball League tipped off last weekend – with more teams (13) than it has ever had before.
For the first time since its formation in 2014, it has a team playing in European competition in the shape of London Lions. A fact celebrated elsewhere in the WBBL but with a tacit acknowledgement that the capital outfit have hopped to a level of ambition that is above everyone else.
Gauntlet thrown down, and no bad thing. The league needs strong clubs, who are doing more than getting by, or simply fielding one team, with no real long-term vision. There is an urgent demand for better strategy, a central infrastructure, proper promotion … and a splash of the chutzpah that – to mention the unmentionable – netball’s Superleague has flaunted for good commercial returns.
Grading the league is an inexact science with imports yet to arrive on some teams due to a visa backlog.
But here’s a best guess: London to sweep if their leading lights don’t switch off at vital times.
Sevenoaks, Leicester, Newcastle and Sheffield to have a competitive internal battle to make knockout finals and end up inside the top four.
And everyone else to pick wins off one another in a manner that should give their players – and fans – ample reasons to stay interested until April at least.
Caledonia Pride
Last season: 11th (league record: 3-17)
Head coach: Bart Sengers
Big arrival: TBC
Big loss: Polly Storie
Insight: The Scots lost Storie and teen prospect Ella Doherty in the summer to North American college but kept their double-double machine Sian Phillips despite interest elsewhere. At least two imports are promised to arrive in the month ahead. French guard Maud Ranger is a solid presence but with more depth, Caledonia can stop being a pushover and fight back.
Sengers: “Once we add in our imports, I think we should be better than last season. But it’s going to be a challenge to start with. We’re young and we have a lot to learn.”
Prediction: 10th
Cardiff Archers
Last season: 9th (5-15)
Head coach: Stef Collins
Big arrival: Lauren Saiki
Big loss: Robyn Love
Insight: Cardiff retain a solid core and a young bench. As their Cup results suggest, they are set to match teams in mid-to-low table but struggle against the leaders. Collins gets a lot out of what she had – if only the Archers could find a few more resources to challenge.
Collins: “There were occasions last year where we played teams that we thought we were on par with and maybe came up short, but on the flipside there were times playing top five teams where we beat them.
“Ultimately it reinforced how we need to understand what to do to be more competitive, more consistent, but also to have the confidence and belief and toughness both mentally and physically to be able to secure those wins in a very competitive league.”
Prediction: 11th
Durham Palatinates
Last season: 10th (4-16)
Head coach: Lee Davie
Big arrival: Victoria Natufe
Big loss: Claire Paxton
Insight: Durham are little different to last term – tight squad, Ryan mixing and matching as best he can but without the options and Plan Bs to threaten the big guns. Losing Paxton, a gritty presence, will hurt their cause.
Prediction: 12th
Essex Rebels
Last season: 6th (10-10)
Head coach: Tom Sadler
Big arrival: Claire Paxton
Big loss: None
Insight: Essex have retained their shooting stars Andrea Kohlhaas and Ashleigh Munns while bringing former club captain Ellie Shaxon back from Italy as key components in a solid starting five. The addition of Paxton, a physical presence, is a boon too and Essex could hunt for greater gains than simply mid-table.
Prediction: 7th
Gloucester City Queens
Last season: New team
Head coach: Jay Marriott
Big arrival: Melita Emanuel-Carr
Big loss: None
Insight: The brand-new team has brought in an experienced group for its debut campaign with Emanuel-Carr as the tone setter. Marriott has plucked American wing
Maura Fitzpatrick from Sweden and Canadian guard Claire Abbott, once of Oaklands. There will inevitably be growing pains but of more importance is how the Gloucester set-up learns from Year One as it sets out lofty ambitions, including a BBL entry.
Emanuel-Carr: “Playoffs are the aim, for sure, and I’ll be gutted if we don’t get there as will everybody else, I’m sure. We’ve got a great group of players being built here and it is very exciting to think what we could achieve together.
Prediction: 9th
Leicester Riders
Last season: 2nd (18-2)
Head coach: Derrick Washington
Big arrival: Chelsea Jennings
Big loss: Holly Winterburn
Insight: The overhaul in Leicester really commenced in the middle of last season and continued with Jesper Sundberg’s departure as head coach, to be replaced by Washington, formerly director for the Norwood Flames in Australia’s NBL1. American wing Chelsea Jennings comes in from Iceland while Riders retained Hannah Robb and Anna Lappenkuper. Losing Winterburn under somewhat acrimonious circumstances will hurt and it will be interesting to see how the new regime resets the club.
Prediction: 3rd
London Lions
Last season: 3rd (16-4)
Head coach: Mark Clark
Big arrival: Jo Leedham
Big loss: None
Insight: Trophy and playoffs were just the starter, Lions assured us, and reaching the group stages proper of the EuroCup Women really underlined the potential in the capital. Luring Leedham – baby daughter in tow – is immense for the WBBL but of greater significance is offering the talented Winterburn an opportunity to unleash her full vibrant potential. With a core that includes Kennedy Leonard, Shanice Beckford-Norton and Cassie Breen back, the only question is whether London can retain their focus on the domestic front, as well as abroad. Clark: “I think if we play hard every week and learn how we fit well together, we have the chance to do something special – in Europe and in the WBBL”
Prediction: 1st
Manchester Met Mystics
Last season: 5th (10-10)
Head coach: Jeff Jones
Big arrival: None
Big loss: Nicolette Fong Lyew Quee
Insight: Where do Manchester see their future? A puzzle when resources are sparce and the reality falls short of potential. Their squad has sustained more subtractions than additions during the summer. Georgia Jones will keep their team well-drilled on the floor but don’t we want to see a little more oomph?
Prediction: 8th
Newcastle Eagles
Last season: 7th (7-13)
Head coach: Chris Bunten
Big arrival: Courtney Clasen
Big loss: Ali Gorrell
Insight: Following their surprise run to the Playoff final, the Eagles desire a little more consistency from the outset. Bunten will soon – he hopes – look to American import Clasen to flourish along side compatriot Maddy McVicar. Ebony Horton, who had a cameo at Manchester last term, impressed for GB’s 3x3ers in the summer while Croat Dora Cipcic looks a nice add for an Eagles squad that is due a bounce.
Prediction: 4th
Nottingham Wildcats
Last season: 4th (11-9)
Head coach: Kenrick Liburd
Big arrival: Brooklyn Pannell
Big loss: Chelsey Shumpert
Insight: Pannell, out of the University of Charleston, subs in for the ever-reliable Shumpert although it will be hard to replace the emotional presence of Siobhan Prior, who retires to a position behind the scenes. Nottingham still has talent but has it enough as others raise their bars?
Prediction: 6th
Oaklands Wolves
Last season: 8th (7-13)
Head coach: Lauren Milligan
Big arrival: Kizzi Spence
Big loss: Amari Carter
Insight: Milligan, just 26, is handed the reigns in a welcome opportunity for a young British coach. Oaklands has always been a developmental hotspot which is where the Wolves’ true focus remains but they will expect to be competitive within the lower third of the WBBL.
Milligan: “We’ve got five senior players returning from last season who have all been around the programme and know what we’re trying to build here. They’re going to be great leaders for a very young roster and I do believe that we can be competitive. When you’re young you’ve got nothing to lose, you can play hard every night and have endless energy, and our seniors add a nice blend.”
Prediction: 13th
Sevenoaks Suns
Last season: 1st (19-1)
Head coach: Len Busch
Big arrival: Jamila Thompson
Big loss: Janice Monakana
Insight: Sevenoaks have gone back to the future by tempting back Julia Koppl and Judit Fritz for second stints in Sevenoaks while, significantly, persuading Cat Carr against retirement and in favour of an eighth season with the team. The champs add Stateside guard Frankie Wurtz from Luxembourg while landing British star Jamila Thompson to fill the void left by Monakana’s switch to Sweden. As ever, the Suns will threaten but – as an existential question – will they ever translate WBBL success into a thriving ecosystem off the court that creates a virtuous circle?
Prediction: 2nd
Sheffield Hatters
Last season: Did not enter
Head coach: Vanessa Ellis
Big arrival: The Hatters
Big loss: No-one
Insight: In the Hatters’ 60th season in existence, it is terrific to see the UK’s most successful club back in the WBBL after a year parked on the outside. The gang is back together with coach Vanessa Ellis repatriated following a title-winning year in Austria and Helen Naylor returning from Manchester and bringing Nicolette Fong Lyew Quee too. Another member of the Codona Clan, Georgia Gayle, comes home from Italy. But the fact the Hatters have been crowdfunding underlines their existence remains precarious. With Sheffield Sharks’ arena plans now off the ground, does the Steel City require a better model that involves co-operation to sustain Hatters for the long-term?
Prediction: 5th
London move sparking a drive into a higher gear for Winterburn
History was made for London Lions with qualifying for the regular season of EuroCup Women.
Holly Winterburn has no intention of standing still and merely enjoying the view.
Precisely the reason the Bright Young Thing of UK hoops cut her long-standing ties with Leicester Riders and bolted for the capital during the summer: to move forward and advance.
“It's sad how it ended,” she confides. “But at the same time, I had to do what was best for myself. And that was playing a higher level. I was going to stagnate there. And it was either playing in Europe or playing in London.”
Admirable honesty from the 21-year-old. But then, as suggested by her stunning decision to curtail her scholarship at the all-potent University of Oregon following a freshman season in which she showed every sign of being ready to become a Stateside standout, Great Britain’s guard of the future possesses a ruthlessness that allows her to make the tough calls.
As good as she was (extremely) on her return to the WBBL, it just seemed like she’d out-grown her situation in her year abroad. It often felt that way, she claims, even on a team that was second in the league and picked up the Cup.
“The games we did have, there was only a few of them which were actually competitive. And we had a competitive group within our squad in Leicester.
“But I just wanted more. I wanted that higher level of physicality, a higher level of skill and to force myself to be better. Not that Leicester wasn't good enough. But London offered me more.”
And her to them, also. If you watched the first leg of the Lions’ EuroCup qualifier that saw Gran Canaria humbled, this was Holly v.2.0 as no-one had seen up close on this side of the Atlantic.
Aggressive. Precise. Flowing. Dominant.
Better competition, better showing. “I just think it was built up for the moment,” Winterburn outlines. “I have confidence in myself and my team has had confidence in me.
“And I just feel comfortable. I'm in a comfortable situation and I've been challenged and it's been great.”
The challenge from Mark Clark is for her now to play off the ball, a shooting guard in cahoots with Kennedy Leonard – and, at times, Jo Leedham, when the veteran and mum-of-one returns from a café injury – along side Winterburn in the backcourt.
An asset, Clark trusts, in a EuroCup pool that begins with a trip to Germany to face Keltern next Thursday and with Belgian side Castors Braine and Czech outfit Brno also in their way.
Execution in the second leg against Gran Canaria was less emphatic. Excusable when a 30-point cushion rendered it all but a dead rubber and with the Spaniards afforded a little scouting knowledge to save some face.
For progression, to make the latter stages in Europe while dominating domestically as they certainly should, Clark’s side will need to find ways to keep raising their bar – one reason why Leedham and Azania Stewart were considered invaluable additions, even as the former copes with the inevitable post-pregnancy strains and the latter with a meniscus issue that will require sensitive management.
“I think that first quarter in the first leg, we set our standard and that's even without Jo on the floor,” Winterburn affirms. “We set our standard very high so we know how well we can play.
“And these past couple of games, we had the two (in the WBBL Cup) against Essex and Sevenoaks, plus the second leg (against Gran Canaria) and even (against Caledonia), we know we're not at the level that we can play at.
“We're coming off the games going: ‘yeah we've got the win but we're not happy with the performance.' So we know our level. We know we can get there. And once we get there, we can keep improving.
“So we've got to keep keeping ourselves accountable and stay at that level - and then improve on that.”
Winterburn is relishing the freedom to roam, to take Leonard’s cues and unleash. Ditto Shanice Beckford-Norton, a poacher by stealth who is benefitting from the attention on her colleagues.
With GB requiring rejuvenation, in the backcourt in particular, Winterburn surely will demand a recall from Chema Buceta after being deemed unready in her previous stint in the senior squad. Evolution, with her at its heart, probably should have come as soon as the 2020 Olympic qualifiers were a wrap.
“I'm not the coach. That's not my decision,” she declares. Still an ambition though, with hope too that Leonard’s status might yet be shunted from naturalised to native.
“I'd love to pay for the national team and whenever my time is ready, I’m ready,” Winterburn adds. “I know Kennedy is sorting her status out. But even so, when her time comes, she'll be ready.
“So you’ve just got to keep listening to the coaches and see what happens.”
The habit of practice, makes perfection
Instructive advice from Jules Dang Akodo – the guest on last week’s MVP Cast - based on the wisdom acquired while making the remarkable leap from London to Slovene side Union Olimpia by the tender age of 16.
The Cheshire Phoenix guard is still just 25 but passed through stints in Germany and Spain as well before returning to the UK in 2018.
But in an expansive illustration of how a major EuroLeague club sets out its stall when recruiting and nurturing talent from a young age, Dang Akodo insists that what he experienced and what is on offer domestically are universes apart.
“Their main focus is player development,” he says. “Their main goal is having their (youth) players play with the men's (team). So in my second year, I was really practising with the men's team. Everything the men's was doing, the juniors was doing it. So when you go to the men, you're not really out of place.
“I think one of the things they do really well is that the main focus is player development - practice twice a day, every day. Because you really have to be on the court a lot to have that major improvement.
“It's just really organised the way they do it: they have practice at 7am every morning, and it will just be straight schoolwork, then individuals.
“And they will focus on all your weaknesses. They will watch game tape. Things like that we don't really do here until we get to the men's level. And by that time, you're a level behind already. So they really prepare you for the next level.”
It is just one among many examples of why Dang Akodo has proven himself adaptable. From moving to London from Cameroon at age six when he could only speak French. Opting to decamp to Ljubljana without a word of Slovenia to his name. Bold moves that paid off.
And that is all education that sticks with you, he underlines, knowledge that he is now passing on in Cheshire and elsewhere in his orbit.
“(To) learn how to be a pro from a young age, it stays with you, wherever you go. It really helps you, it really helps you stay consistent. No matter the environment. You know what you need to do, you know what a professional environment or professional basketball player should be doing.
“So, you're not really looking at what others are doing in a sense. Because it's easy to be carried away. Or just to get comfortable when you get in a situation where maybe you're used to shooting, you’re used to getting into a gym an hour before.
“But you get into an environment where you can't get in the gym an hour before, half an hour before. So you just get comfortable. You don't you don't find out ways to get your shots up after practice.
“So I think those habits really help you in in the long run. And wherever you go, you still have those. You still carry that.”
Stream the full MVP Cast edition with Jules Dang Akodo here, download via your preferred podcast provider – or ask Alexa or Google on your smart speaker for the MVP Cast.
Wales to get own National League
Basketball Wales has launched its first-ever National League in mid-October with eight men’s teams doing battle in the opening campaign.
The ambition in the longer term, the governing body says, is to welcome more teams to the men’s league, whilst also founding corresponding leagues for elite women’s and junior level players.
Players from the Wales national team squad will be amongst those plying their trade in the BWNL this year.
Basketball Wales chairman Gavin Williams said: “This is a huge step forward for the game in Wales, bringing some of our best coaches, teams and players together in one league. Our hope is that this will generate more interest in the game, and inspire people across the country to fall in the love with the sport of basketball, to take up the sport or to start playing again!
“The first season is shaping up to be very exciting, with representatives from across the country playing for the pride of their communities in Ynys Mon, Mold, Aberystwyth, the Rhondda, Cardiff, Bridgend and Cheshire.”
James Morgans, chair of the BWNL and a former coach to Wales’ junior teams, added: “Wales has strong fundamental foundations in basketball already, with two well-established and successful regional leagues in north and south Wales, but the BWNL will connect the country through basketball in a way it never has been before, providing an elite basketball league for the best teams in Wales.
“This is just the beginning for the BWNL, with eight excellent teams set to take part in our first season, but we have big ambitions for the future to grow this men’s league and develop women’s and junior equivalents, showcasing to the nation just how much exciting talent we have in Wales.”
Grand Slam ambitions still very much in Josh’s sights
Having scampered across many of the same courts, felt many of same emotions and lay in bed at one point dreaming similar dreams, Josh Ward-Hibbert was understandably captivated by the extraordinary sporting accomplishment of Emma Radacanu in marching from qualifier to US Open victor to becoming the latest multi-millionaire tennis, almost in the blink of an eye.
“It's actually like speechless incredible how she's done it,” he proclaims. “She deserves it from what I'm hearing of her hard work.”
The London Lions guard, now 27, was a gifted prodigy too once with racket in hand, champion in the boys doubles at the Australian Open in 2012 in tandem with Liam Broady, who represented the UK at this past summer’s Tokyo Olympics.
Throw in quarter-finals at other Grand Slams and a world junior ranking of ten and the kid who would occasionally get to hit around with Andy Murray was a prospect for whom much was expected.
Back in London now, his teenage trips onto another court in the capital are still recalled with quite the buzz.
“Especially for a British tennis player, playing at Wimbledon's an amazing experience, an amazing time,” Ward-Hibbert proclaims. “Everything around the two weeks during - and two weeks probably before, with all the build-up - everything around that's just amazing.
“Probably one of my fondest memories, looking back, of my junior career was when I played on the show court and, as a wildcard, upset one of the seeds of the tournament.
“That was massive. Just playing with family watching live. When you're travelling, you don't often get such great home support, and all of that side is actually amazing.”
It was a glamourous odyssey, bankrolled by the lavish funding that The LTA receives from the surplus profits of Wimbledon, hopping from city to city in search of ranking points and prizes in tennis’ proving grounds.
“There's some places that are definitely glamorous,” he admits. Many, alas, witnessed merely from a hotel window or shuttle bus. But nevertheless, these were heady times indeed.
And yet he clung onto a parallel existence as a basketballer, good enough to come through the ranks at Derby Trailblazers and represent England at the European Under-16 Championships where he notched a tasty 18 points per game.
Back and forth between the sports he flitted, like ball volleyed across net. “Growing up I had equal love for both,” he reveals. “I loved playing basketball. And when I wasn't playing basketball, I loved playing tennis, and vice versa.
“I was really getting to the point where if I wasn't playing basketball on a weekend or during the evening, I was going to be playing tennis and the other way around. So it definitely kept my schedule busy.”
Tennis, for a time, had to win out. Results justified a concentration of his ambitions. Time was precious too.
“It's not one of them things you can take half-heartedly. It involves training basically every day, not just for an hour, but two, three hours a day with fitness on top of that.
“Competitions, whether international competitions or national competitions. It's a massive, massive time commitment.”
It was, he concedes, also a business decision. That while tennis opportunities were served up on a plate, basketball was self-catered with few appetising ingredients placed in his bag.
“The system that was in place (in tennis) allowed me to be able to focus on it,” Ward-Hibbert acknowledges. “There's some amazing people in British basketball who really are trying to propel British basketball and do the best they can for it.
“But just especially when I was playing and growing up, it wasn't as easy to play regularly and be in a system.”
Tennis gave him so much but there was ultimately an end-game. His ascent slowed, a shoulder injury pushed the brakes still further. but he simply felt life’s pathway should divert elsewhere.
“It was a tough decision,” he recalls. “But the decision actually wasn't to leave tennis initially. My first decision was to get back into education.”
To Loughborough foremost. Which brought a reunion with his childhood chum Rema Lascelles, who had returned from a basketball scholarship in the USA.
Fates combined to tease him back into basketball again, at Derby and on the university side.
Then, he adds, “the opportunity just came up just play and train with Leicester Riders … alongside with my studies. After a long deliberation, I just picked up the ball and ran with it.”
Three seasons there saw a steady progression under Rob Paternostro, in points, productivity and minutes on the floor. A finishing school.
Then came a surprising switch to Lions last year, for a reduced role but fresh horizons. After an early season injury, he saw it as a chance to move onward, he saw, to learn especially from his seasoned colleague Justin Robinson.
“He's so open to have the discussions and try to impart his knowledge as best he can,” Ward-Hibbert outlines. “He is a person that leads by example every day, gives his 100 per cent in everything he does in training and in games. He is extremely driven to win.”
In London, the Midlander has added to his silverware collection, but perhaps not at the rate that was expected last term when only the BBL Trophy was ported back to the Copper Box.
That formidable group unquestionably under-achieved when falling short of domination domestically.
“We did have the opportunity to do that last year,” he says. “We put ourselves in opportunities to do that.
“We were in all the finals and we're coming close in the league.” To win them all this season instead? “To be honest, I think that has to be the goal for London Lions,” he confirms.
Next week, Lions will return to the European stage for the start of the FIBA Europe Cup’s regular season.
A consolation following a meek exit from the Basketball Champions League at its first qualifying stage. Dutch side Groningen are first up on Wednesday 13 October in the Netherlands, then Austria’s Kapfenberg Bulls and Germany’s Bayreuth amid a six-game slate from which two survivors will move on to the second round.
It is not just enough to participate, Ward-Hibbert proclaims, even after last term’s disappointment when a Covid outbreak forced the Lions’ exclusion.
“This is where we belong, and it's doing what I know that the team can do: win those games that will put us through to the next phase.”
It will serve his basketball career well if the Londoners can hit a few aces en route. However it is tennis that moulded Ward-Hibbert, shaped his sporting DNA and steeled his resolve.
“There's ups and downs, those some good games, some difficult ones,” he says. “All that mental side of tennis, I try to take into the basketball side and do what I can do the same - control the controllables.”
Like Radacanu, a dream run on the blind side is the dream. He is not 18 now though. Time is sparce, the clock ticking down to hit winners and satisfy himself that there was nothing held back in reserve or left unchallenged.
“I want to put myself and my basketball in the best place,” Ward-Hibbert states. “I’m going to be a better player next year, and the year after, than I am now.
“I’m just hoping that wherever I'm at, that's going to also lead to trophies and positive things.”
Listen to an extended interview with Josh Ward-Hibbert in a forthcoming edition of the MVP Cast.
Betting Tips
Now that the first few games of the season are out of the way, off-beat odds in the BBL will be thin on the ground. But there is little consistency yet for many teams.
This weekend, Manchester are 5-4 in certain places against Sheffield Sharks with Giants looking immensely capable of gradual improvements.
Glasgow are another team discovering their identity. Their offence has been flourishing. Worth a look at going over 155 points in their Sunday trip to Manchester.
ICYMI
London Lions’ Andrea Boreland passes away
Pau Gasol retires from basketball
EuroLeague switches to Freesports
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Images: Ahmedphotos, Riders