CITY of Birmingham Rockets basketball team captain, Martyn Gayle, is writing a regular column for M6 Sport this season.
In his first one here, he talks about the team’s excellent start to the season and looks ahead to Saturday’s home game against Worthing Thunder – tickets can be bought HERE.
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IT’S been a great start to the season throughout the whole club, we were training all through the summer with a new coach and some new players. So it was good to get used to the way the guys are playing.
We were in the KitKing Trophy before the league season started – but unfortunately knocked out. I think that there were some good lessons to take out of that though. The games were close, we got to try some new stuff and the coach, Charles Smith, got to experiment.
We all want to win a cup, but the season’s longer than that, more of a marathon, that sprint.
It’s pretty much a brand-new team. Not only do we have a new coach who has his own kind of system and way of managing things, we’ve got new players that are ahead of the game in certain aspects. So, it’s a whole new model for us – and it’s been good to see what works and how we can form some consistency.
The coach checked the talent pool that was local, affordable and sustainable for the club. So he had his pick of the guys that he could get hold of. There were some people that stayed and some people that left. So, this definitely is what Charles wanted to nail down.
Then, the opening league win at Derby was a massive statement,
to beat the league champions from last year. That was absolutely huge. To come through, keep it tight and eventually come out with a win was great not only for what can happen this season, but for the club to show its growth.
And then we followed it up again last Saturday. Reading Rockets have been around the top half of the table for many, many years, as long as I can remember.
We lost to them during preseason in a friendly against them. And it was a close contest again, it went into overtime – but to come through and beat a team like that who have been stalwarts of the game in this country, was amazing.
And the crowd were really behind us. As a club, these are the steps forward that we need to take – it’s been a progression from last season. The coach from last year, Nuno, set some things up that have paved the way for the growth to continue.
It’s not to say that he couldn’t have continued to grow the club, but a fresh experience and a different view on it from the coach has moved us in the right direction – and as a team as well.
Winning is infectious, it’s not just us, but the women’s team can see what we’re doing like and they’re making their own progress as well. So as a club, it’s just about moving in the right way.
The club mix is good as well. Our junior programme is doing really well, and we’re trying to fire the next generation.
Because at every level, the inspiration is there. Whether you’re under 14, you’re inspired. If you’re under 16, you’re inspiring under 14s, then through the 18-16s and then the men’s and women’s teams. Which is exactly the way we want the sport to grow.
The more people you influence, the more people that you can get through the door watching the game.
If you have a junior team and just one or two of their parents come, or one or two of their friends come, and then the next week, one or two of their friends come – and before you know it, you’ve got a fan base of hundreds and maybe thousands – who knows where you can take the club from there.
We play Worthing Thunder at home on Saturday, so hopefully we can get a nice big crowd again that can get the place rocking.
Hopefully, we can stick to the game plan, train really hard this week and come out with another victory.
