The first ever Women’s Basketball League season launches this weekend with Loughborough College students amongst the Leicester Riders players getting their campaign underway.
The new top women’s professional basketball league in the UK sees Riders newcomer Ellie Maidman and returning teammates and fellow Sport students Rheanne Bailey, Maaja Bratka and Maia Bratka set to compete for the defending champions.
The Riders claimed the English Basketball League Division One title last season and will be joined by the league’s seven other teams as well as the two finalists from the Division Two play-offs for the flagship WBBL Championship.
Loughborough 22 year old Rheanne Bailey, who is in her final year of a BSc Sport Science degree at Loughborough College, revealed she is feeling confident ahead of Saturday’s season opener.
“There is more pressure to come in as defending champions. It can feel as if you have a target on your back, that everyone wants to knock you off the top – then you add to that the fact that we are in the new top league.
“Having said that the Riders are in a really good place.
“We Sweden went to Sweden recently to play Visby Ladies as part of our pre-season training.
“When we won all three games in the series that gave us a great confidence boost.
“There is a real sense that we are coming into the new season as the team showing the most improvement.”
Loughborough College Sports Science degree student Maaja Bratka – who was named Eurobasket.com’s Player of the Year in the WNBL last year, agrees. “The time we spent in Sweden helped us get to know each other really well on and off the court which was really valuable for team bonding – and winning all three games made it even better.
“Of course there is an element of nerves to come into this new top national league but we are ready to show everyone we can stay on top. I am really looking forward to our first game this weekend.
The Loughborough 22 year old this year spent her third summer representing the Estonia Women’s team. “This is my fourth year with the Riders and my final year at Loughborough College.
“I have never felt homesick because my twin sister Maia, who also plays for the Riders, is here with me.
“Loughborough College has also been amazing at supporting me through balancing my academic studies with my training and competition. That has really taken a weight off.
“My hope is that I can go professional, so the pressure is on. Before there was always another year to make it better, so this season counts more than ever.”
Rob Jarram, who heads the highly successful basketball programme for Loughborough College added: “As the brand new Women’s Basketball League launches and we are seeing a real increase in national interest for the game, the Riders women’s team are going in as champions, which is fantastic.
“The opportunity the College offers to perform at a top level combined with education is proving a real winner.
“The programme really is going from strength to strength as Leicester Riders players on the women’s and men’s teams studying at Loughborough College produce outstanding results on and off the court. “
The Leicester Riders Women open the season against Brixton Topcats this Saturday at 16.15 in the Sir David Wallace Building as part of the WBBL season launch.
The Topcats were finalists at the 2014 Division Two (Women) Playoffs with Leeds Force. The two teams join Division One originals Leicester Riders, Barking Abbey Crusaders, Cardiff Met Archers, Manchester Mystics, Nottingham Wildcats, Sevenoaks Suns, Sheffield Hatters and Team Northumbria for the 18-game new WBBL season.