British Basketball
League stars are far more than just the incredible athletes you love to
watch do their thing on the hardwood week in, week out – this is about more
than just hoops!
To demonstrate that
this season we’ve launched a new feature where you’ll get to hear directly from
some of the biggest names in the League about some of the topics and issues
both in basketball and beyond that they’re most passionate about!
We’ve already heard from Surrey Scorchers sharpshooter Quin Cooper on the lessons from his incredible journey from Louisiana to hoopin’ across the globe, and Caledonia’s Patrick Whelan discussing the risks he took to make it as a professional player.
Next up, we have one of the stars of the season so far – Cheshire Phoenix’s Aaryn Rai! Aaryn penned an exclusive column detailing his background as a neuroscience graduate (yes, you read that right!), why being a pro hooper was never really on the radar for him, and much more. LOCK IN for this one, as it’s an incredible read!
I understand
why people might look at me and say I’m not your average hooper.
But honestly, I don’t really know what that
means. I guess the neuroscience degree stands out and grabs people because it
is uncommon, but honestly, it was just a passion of mine and something I’ve
always had an interest in. To be a professional basketball player, I wouldn’t
say it was ever a dream … it just kind of happened.
I played football quite religiously as a
kid in Canada, and I’d still back myself as the best football player in this
League – we’ve got to do something about that so I can prove it! I was
genuinely so much better at football than I ever thought I was going to be at
basketball, but at around 13 I just grew really quickly and my feet got a
little too big. I was quite awkward in my movement on the field and didn’t
really enjoy football as much anymore.
Up until that point, I had been quite short
and a tricky little central midfielder who was twisting and turning all over
the place, so growing over six feet tall didn’t really fit with that anymore, so
my mum suggested basketball, from which I never looked back. That being said, I
feel like you could stick me in defence for any League One or League Two football
club now and I could do a good job!
From there I went to prep school with a
basketball academy and ended up in the U.S. at Ivy League school Dartmouth,
majoring in Neuroscience. This is a topic that is just super interesting to me
and when I started studying, I was only thinking about graduating and using my
degree to start a career.
You might not think it has a lot of
relevance to basketball, but it does. Studying things like how we learn, how
our motor skills develop and how we adapt to different situations was very
interesting to me, and I relate a lot of my studies to the game and my life
choices and things like that.
Basketball as a career wasn’t even on my
radar, but my mindset changed between my junior and senior years. Covid cost us
a season and I just had this realisation at the time that I could always go
back to using that degree later in life, but my time to play at the highest
level was limited, so from there on the game became a priority.
It wasn’t until the end of my senior year,
though, that I thought I could have a career in the game. I never thought of
myself as a professional athlete in the making or anything like that, but during
that senior year I had so much success that it just kind of happened for me –
I’m honestly still surprised I’m in this situation to this day.
When reality
exceeds expectations
In terms of expecting to do well, I always
have high expectations of myself and what I’m capable of, on or off the court.
I’m sure every player in this league thinks they’re the best and that’s a
healthy mindset to have to compete against other guys who think the same thing
of themselves.
Holding yourself in high esteem and having
that confidence that you are great is key in any work environment, especially
in sports; because everybody else is just as confident, if not more.
My confidence is a lot higher than my
expectations, so I’m pleasantly surprised that I’ve been able to get off to a
decent start in this league. More importantly, our team has been gelling and
playing well together, which is the biggest positive because a lot of us are so
far away from home and sacrificing so much to be here. The people at Cheshire
are incredible and everything about this experience has surpassed my
expectations so far.
When I took that first step into the
professional game with Hemel Storm in the NBL, I just wanted to try it out, to
be honest, to see if I could do it and if I enjoyed it. I knew Taylor (Johnson)
from college as we’d been on the same team at Dartmouth and got the opportunity
from there. It was a big risk as you’re away from family and all of that stuff,
but I wanted to try at least a year of playing professionally and I loved it so
haven’t looked back.
It wasn’t really a dream of mine, I just
kind of ended up here.
My inspiration comes from my parents. My
dad is extremely hardworking, and one of the most disciplined people I’ve ever
met. Even though he’s not a professional athlete, seeing the discipline he
shows in his everyday life and the sacrifices he’s made for our family really
shaped me into who I am.
On top of that, you have my mum who is so
emotionally present and available. She’s had a turbulent life, so seeing how
she’s navigated everything has given me a lot of understanding of how to
control my emotions. It’s so important not to take things too personally, to adapt
to what’s in front of you, keep calm and move forward in the best way you can;
and from both of them, I’ve definitely learned how to do that.
My dad works in insurance and my mum has
worked for various pharmaceutical companies over the years – although her first
job was in Morrisons supermarket in this country! They were both born in the
same hospital in Nottingham – a few years apart – but ended up meeting years
later for the first time in Canada, which is crazy.
Dad ran marathons and he was pretty good to
be fair, but other than that we don’t have any athletes in the family and not a
lot of height either – except for me and my brother, who also plays college
basketball now. In our family, at least, we’re trailblazers in that sense,
which is pretty cool.
When will the
hoops dreams end?
I worked in a lab in my last year at
Dartmouth and also spent a little bit of time in the corporate world before and
between my stops in basketball, so I could have definitely made that transition
straight into that world if I wanted. But honestly, I’m just enjoying what I do
so much and I think sometimes the importance of that gets lost.
You don’t get this time of youth and health
forever so for the moment, I think that the enjoyment I’m feeling now far
outweighs anything I’m not getting from being in a more corporate world.
This moment I’m in right now, I love it,
and that’s why I keep going, but how long that lasts I don’t know. I’ve got to
enjoy it whilst it’s here and available to me. I can use my summers to stay in
touch with that more corporate world and build that experience, and I’ve
definitely taken advantage of that, but for now, I’m loving the game too much
to stop.
I really don’t have a plan set in stone
though. I’m incredibly fortunate to have all the possibilities that I do have,
and I don’t want to look too far ahead.
The moment I’m in right now is really
special and something I never thought I could achieve, playing professionally,
so I just want to soak as much of it up as I can whilst still trying to prepare
for the future.
Whether I play for another 10 years or
another five or another two, I don’t know, but right now I’m enjoying this and
that’s something I’m really happy about.
When it’s all said and done, I just want to leave the court in a way that fulfils me emotionally. Yes, I want to win things – everybody does – but if I can walk away from the game with joy, memories, relationships, and experiences that the kid I was couldn’t have even imagined, then I’ll be happy and ready to move on and let go.
READ MORE:
Get your British Basketball fix by following the League on social media or heading to our YouTube channel to relive all of the best moments from the current season.
This website aggregates and curates news articles, blog posts, and other content from a variety of external sources. While we aim to link back to the original source, this site does not own or claim ownership of any articles, posts, or other content indexed on this site. The views, opinions, and factual statements expressed in each piece of aggregated content belong solely to its respective author and publisher. We make no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy or completeness of aggregated content. Visitors are advised to verify facts and claims through the original source before reuse or redistribution.
