By Jamie Thomas
After a three-week hiatus from competitive action in the WBBL, the Caledonia Pride returned to the court this past weekend and thumped the Gloucester City Queens to secure their third victory of the campaign.
The Scottish side are now just one win away from vaulting themselves into the playoff positions as they go into a run of fixtures that will see them do battle against many of the teams in and around them in the standings, and their star guard Laken James sat down with us to talk about the club’s development since the turn of the year.
“Our progress is speaking for itself in recent games. We’re getting better every single week and we’ve had a really positive few weeks where we’ve just been able to work on ourselves in practice and not have games on the weekend, which has helped us and we’re moving in the right direction.
“We’ve definitely been a better team than our results have shown, I think. If you look back at some of our recent games, a lot of them were decided in the fourth quarter where we’d been really close with our opponents throughout the rest of the game.
“We’ve competed and been up in most of those games, and we’ve seen that progress. You never want to look too far ahead, but if we keep the same focus of getting better every single week then hopefully we’ll have some results to show for that progress.”
“Their ceiling is going to be as high as they want it to be.”
It seems odd to call James – just 26 years old – a senior player amongst the Pride’s group, but that is how she pitches herself as she discusses how she has tried to help motivate and lead her even younger teammates to develop confidence in their own abilities.
The American guard also discussed the level she feels this roster can get to, and how the hard work that is being put in by this very young group can translate into something special in years to come.
“I was really fortunate in College to be part of a strong culture and have an opportunity to learn what it looks like to be a part of that and to be a good leader, so I try to carry my passion for that into the team, bringing the right energy and confidence to some of these players.
“I’m 26 and significantly older than a lot of our players, but I hope if they see me and my confidence as a leader then they’ll be inspired by that and develop their own confidence in the same way.
“I feel like for this group their ceiling is going to be as high as they want it to be. They have so much potential and so many years ahead of them to grow. Our ‘bigs’ are really athletic, have great footwork and are so strong; we have a lot of young players with huge drive and passion, so they’re going to set their own ceiling and it can be so high if they keep working like they are now.”
“They say they want to develop great Scottish players … that is exactly what they’re doing.”
Whilst a 3-10 start in the WBBL Championship is not what the Pride will have hoped to achieve at the start of their season, our conversations with players and coaches across the WBBL this season to bring you the best British Basketball content have unanimously seen individuals from opposing teams state that Caledonia are far better than their standings suggest.
This is an opinion that James wholeheartedly prescribes to, as she pinpoints certain moments in the season where the Pride have shown their class, as well as the ethos she is bringing to the team and why the club really are walking the walk in terms of developing the future of Scottish basketball.
“I’ve lived by the same quote for so long, which is to just try and be one per cent better every day than you were the day before. The only person you should try to be better than is who you were yesterday, and I try to live by that. We can grow every single day and that’s something I’ve tried to instil here as well.
“Playing away against Essex, we were up by 21 points at one point, so that showed what we’re capable of because Essex are a really good team. We did end up taking the loss in that game, but to be up by so much showcased what we’re capable of and is something we should be encouraged by.
“What is so special about Pride is that they really walk the walk in the sense that when they say they want to develop great Scottish players … that is exactly what they’re doing.
“If this group stays together, they’re going to be really good because they’ve been together for so long, they’re growing every day and – even in my short time here – the steps I’ve seen them take, they can be scarily good in the future if they keep developing the way they are from such a young age.”