Blink and you’ll miss her … Beth Sarson is set to suit up for Krumesh Patel’s Leicester Riders in the 2022/23 season, and boy have the Midlands franchise got a player on their hands!
One of the most tireless, energetic players in the WBBL, Sarson has made a name for herself throughout her career in the league as somebody who brings endless enthusiasm and intensity to her teams, and we caught up with her recently to find out more about her move to Leicester.
“I think from the moment we all met we just clicked together and have felt really close to one another, which has been really nice, and then out in Sweden we’ve had that opportunity to test ourselves on the court against some really good teams, so I’m very excited.
“I came here because I wanted to be challenged and after speaking to Krumesh (Patel, Head Coach) he seemed the perfect coach for me. I’ve always liked Leicester as well, so when I had the opportunity to come here and play it just seemed like the perfect fit.
“I’m a high-energy player, I bring a lot of experience with me and I like to set an example with how hard I play on both ends of the floor, and I think those will be my biggest roles this year. I still feel I have a lot of room to develop and improve but I just want to enjoy the challenges along the way and I’m excited to do that here at Leicester.”
It’ll be a somewhat different challenge to recent years for Sarson, previously of the Oaklands Wolves, as she joins a team that expects every year to be challenging for a position in the upper echelons of the WBBL standings and competing for silverware.
Still in the early stages of her time with the team, the speedy guard discussed the strengths as she sees them of this Riders group and the role that Patel played in recruiting her to the team.
“Our strength is that we all bring so many different options to the table. We’re such a versatile group with a lot of different skill-sets and in pre-season we seem to have clicked so well that its going to be exciting to see how that all comes together in the WBBL.
“The energy we have hasn’t dropped at all, we’re all 100% behind each other and that is so nice to be a part of. There’s an optimism here, as well, and all this stems from Krumesh who is big on building that mentality for us and making sure we celebrate all of our successes.
“Everybody I spoke to about Krumesh before coming here said they loved him and how good a coach he was, so that was really a big draw for me and in our conversations he’s been talking about the pace he wants the team to play at, the team culture he wants to build, and that really sold the opportunity for me so I’ve really enjoyed being here so far and working with everybody.”
The Riders get their WBBL campaign underway on Saturday September 24 against the Essex Rebels at 7pm. Watch every game in the WBBL live and for free this season on the WBBL YouTube channel.