Imperial basketball on the rise

We take a look at basketball at Imperial, as teams prepare for the varsity game, held for the first time at the Copper Box arena in the Olympic Park.

For the uninitiated Englishman, more accustomed to the predictable pace of football and cricket, basketball can seem like something of a whirlwind: slightly dizzying, but absolutely captivating.

Watching Imperial men’s first team take on close league rivals King’s College first team at Ethos Sports Centre I’m struck by the cohesion of the respective teams, jostling in unison like bees around the court, conscious of one another’s position and conspiring to move the ball to the opposition end basket.

This frenetic pace on the court is matched by the expansion of the sport globally. Basketball is growing at a breakneck speed and particularly in South East Asia – with 300 million Chinese citizens playing the sport regularly. Even in Britain – which has never truly embraced the sport as have other European countries – there’s been a huge recent rise in participation and spectator numbers. Imperial hopes to mirror that.

The men's first team

“Basketball is a global sport and Imperial is a global university, it’s just a perfect fit really,” says Neil Mosley, Head of Sport Imperial, who is plotting a course for basketball at the College.

The Basketball Club has around 90 members and there are four teams that compete on a regular basis in the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) South Eastern Division leagues and cups: the men’s first team; men’s second (Medics), men’s third; and women’s team. There are also weekly training sessions running from 4pm to 7pm on a Saturday, which include a new look development session withskills and drills, attracting less experienced players looking to improve.

Perhaps most excitingly, Sport Imperial has a new partnership with the London Lions – the only professional team in the capital – that sees their coaches come over to Ethos and even allows our teams to play occasionally in the Copper Box arena at the Olympic Park (see side box, opposite page).

“Universities are really taking basketball seriously,” says Neil. “Many of the top teams in the UK are based in, or have strong links with, universities – namely, Worcester Wolves, Durham Wildcats, Plymouth Raiders and Leicester Riders. So the models are out there, and frankly we need a piece of that as the top sporting university in London.”

The players themselves have also been working to increase participation and excitement around the sport. Since changing the format ofthe development session they’ve seen participation grow from a handful of hopefuls every Saturday, to 30 people queuing at the door.

“We want to create an interaction here, really build something up, so that students will return to the club each year after the summer, and if they show a lot of motivation then they’ll progress and maybe make the teams,” says Club Vice President and first team player Thomas Defferriere (2nd year Materials Science and Engineering).

So what are some of the raw attributes that make a good basketball player? Everyone I speak with talks about the importance of team unity and that’s certainly something that was on display when I saw them play King’s.

“Some people come in who are very experienced and are great at being able to score, but the ability to buy into the team concept is one of the major things we try to emphasise; when we play games we try to beat the opposition with a 5-strong team rather than 5 individual players,” says men’s first team Captain Wouter Thijssen (2nd year Chemical Engineering).

Court awareness and vision is something that’s also incredibly valuable in the context of team play, perhaps even more so in the women’s game, as Hannah Barrett (6th year Medicine), Captain of the team explains: “If somebody naturally knows what’s happening on the court, even if they’re not technically the best, they tend to be in the right place when you need the pass.”

It’s clear that the support that the London Lions have been providing since October is starting to pay dividends too. Nick Freer is one of the stand-out players for the Lions professional team and has been coming to the development sessions and some matches.

Vince Macaulay, Head Coach and Chief Executive of the Lions, has also lent his extensive tactical knowledge to the teams. He has managed to drop in on some of games of the women’s team who are currently top of their division (BUCS South Eastern 2A). If they hang on in there they will win promotion to the very top division (1A).

“He’s been amazing,” Captain Hannah says of Vince. “There’s been a few times where we’ve been down by 10 points, yet we’ve brought it back to win by 5, even 10. You do see the difference, not just in tactics but in bringing the team together and that’s something those guys are really good at.”

The men’s match I came to watch was a real nail-biter, with both teams swapping leading positions throughout the game. But the visitors King’s College took it narrowly at 56 vs 59 points.

It was clearly a hard defeat to take, because it could have so easily been the other way round. But speaking to coach Nick afterwards, he was hugely encouraged: “To be in the game and with a chance to win against a great team shows how far we’ve come. They guys are starting to execute some of the plays we’ve been working on and there’s a lot to build on here.”

That seems to be a fitting parallel for basketball in general at Imperial.