By Kennedy Leonard
The WBBL Cup Final … the one that eluded us last season due to something we couldn’t control and something that really doesn’t want to go away – Covid – but yet here we are, and we are ready and excited!
This season has already been a whirlwind for us. Firstly, we qualified for the FIBA EuroCup by beating a Spanish Women’s League team. A British team beating a Spanish league team? Unheard of. Then we qualified for the WBBL Cup Final by beating Essex Rebels, Sevenoaks Suns and Sheffield Hatters. Our first challenges handled. Exciting.
Next, we qualified for the playoffs of the FIBA EuroCup by placing third in our group, getting wins against all but one team. Unimaginable. We end up drawing Tango Bourges, a French super-team who has won the EuroLeague, the FIBA EuroCup (with our very own Jo Leedham-Warner) and the French Women’s League multiple times. Oh … and they’re the number-one-ranked team in the whole competition! We beat them in the first leg by one point, in a game that had eight Olympians playing in it. That’s mind-blowing.
We made more history, among other words and phrases that wouldn’t do it justice.
Now, one of our goals this year is to win everything we can, everything that’s put in front of us, and that includes the WBBL Cup Final. This is an opportunity to stamp our names officially this season on something in the WBBL and we don’t want to let that opportunity pass. A British-led team, with a few powerful imports … that’s a dream.
For me, this season has been eye-opening. I’ve gotten to play with the same incredible people who I won the WBBL Trophy and Playoff Finals alongside last year, but we’ve added a few people who make us a better team and myself a better player and person.
To Jo, Z, Holly and Leah … welcome to the party! I couldn’t be more thankful to have you here. Keep doing what you all do. It matters to us. To everyone else … let’s keep this party going. No point in stopping while the night is still young!
And don’t get it twisted. Although this season has been wild, and we aren’t even quite halfway through it, it has been rewarding beyond my wildest dreams. I don’t want it to stop now – none of us do – so expect more of the same with the WBBL Cup Final.
We’re just some history-makers trying to make some more history. Let’s roll our sleeves up and get this thing going. No better time than the present.