‘It’s been difficult joining a new team this season alongside balancing the start of my University tenure but now I feel like I’m coming along pretty nicely and growing into the season,’ as first year University of Gloucestershire student, Lewis Ratcliffe, reflects on his start to life at his new side.
The UOG men’s basketball team have started the season unbeaten in their first two games; ‘The season has gone really well so far actually, we’ve all gelled really nicely and we’re training together really well, our first game got called off last week so last night was our first game which went really well, we scored 132 points which is obviously really high and put us off to a great start as a team.’
Reflecting on Wednesday night’s first game of the season against Plymouth the UOG point-guard said; ‘We went there not really knowing much about them, we had eight players to their thirteen so we weren’t quite sure what might happen.’
‘We started off the first quarter hounding them, we just jumped straight down their throats, we got off to a 30 point lead in the first quarter and that just set the tone for the rest of the game, we dominated them on and off the ball and we didn’t give them anything easy which reflected in the end score,’ said Ratcliffe who totalled a points haul of 18 in the game.
Ratcliffe then went on to praise his new coaches; ‘The coaches just tell us to go out and play, obviously they do a lot of work with our set plays but they recognise our quality as a team so really they just want us to go out and play, to have fun with it and to play for each other more than anything.’
‘One thing that the coaches keep saying to us and keep reiterating is that the first five minutes are the most important five minutes of the game,’ as the 19 year old highlighted his teams fast starts as a key reason for their success so far this campaign.
‘In this sport, getting off to a good start puts us in great stead for the rest of the game, especially on Wednesday we went out there and went on a massive run to start, their coach then called a time out and the momentum was then massively swung in our favour.’
‘Getting off to such a good start and getting ahead early then allowed us to dictate the rest of the game from there, obviously they then had to chase us and chase the game forcing them to make mistakes whilst we can stick to our own tempo, so getting off to a good start is a key fundamental for us.’
On a more personal note the first year student is now starting to feel more settled after his switch of teams last summer, ‘From an individual perspective I feel like I’m really coming into my own now and I feel really good.’
‘I knew the first few weeks were going to be difficult finding my place in the team, where I can fit in, where I can use my qualities but now you can see that it’s all really coming together now, we’re all recognising our strengths and we’re not forcing our weaknesses.’
‘It is so important to have a good morale within the squad, especially already being this early into the season there are still people I don’t quite know properly, so I’m now starting to pick up on their tendencies and traits they bring to the court which is massive to how you play as a team.’
‘You don’t want to play with people who you don’t have a great relationship with as you might not play for them as much as you do for other teammates, going out there and playing with freedom and togetherness is massive part towards winning and being a successful team.’
Talking about starting life at University the Worcestershire born basketballer admitted that ‘at first balancing basketball and University was tough, meeting new people at University and at basketball, learning new names and new routines, new plays and getting used to training in Gloucester, a lot of new things at once was hard to fathom but the lads are really good so it’s came along pretty quickly and I now feel settled in.’
The former Myerscough college player believes the level between full time and University basketball is ‘pretty similar’ following his two year spell playing full time college Basketball previously.
‘Both the levels in terms of mentally and physically are very much similar however at Myerscough it is much more regimented, I was playing basketball for five hours a day, seven days a week, sometimes with gym sessions or an extra session in the morning.’
‘Obviously now as I am playing basketball whilst balancing life as a University student the coaches give us time off to ensure we hand in assignments on time, but overall the tactics and the plays are similar to what I’ve done before.’
Ratcliffe, who’s idol is Golden State Warriors point-guard Steph Curry, has also recently joined a new adults basketball team called The Gloucester City Kings, following his impressive start to life at the University side , ‘we’re currently also unbeaten in the league on Saturday’s as well as having a really good cup run before we got knocked out by a higher division opposition last weekend.’
Finally the Sports Journalism Student has learnt that the ‘physicality is massive’ following his recent move from College to now playing Adult’s Basketball.
‘Playing against students is a lot more different to competing in a Men’s league, players are a lot faster, a lot stronger, a lot taller, a lot more skilled and experienced.’
‘University Basketball is much more raw, opponents will panic and tend to throw the ball away which doesn’t happen in the Men’s game, you can’t take your eyes off the ball else you will get punished, it just offers a completely different challenge.’
