Force's team takes shape ahead of second season in NBL Division 3

Portsmouth Force Men’s team is starting to take shape for next season after a successful trial weekend in which players were put through their paces.

Saturday (8th July) saw 20 hopeful competitors attend the Ravelin Centre as they looked to earn their place in the National Basketball League Division 3 side.

The numbers were then reduced for the final stage of the trial on Sunday.

Speaking after the trial, Head Coach Daniel Fatomide said: “Yesterday the focus was on their basketball skills and their ability and what they were able to do.

“Today we wanted to see if individuals are able to accept and understand new concepts and whether they are able to implement them and really test their basketball IQ.”

An intense session played out with several players putting their bodies on the line for a place in the team.

Fatomide was impressed with the overall quality on show: “There is some of them here that are going to be core pieces, but I told them at the end of the session that we are also missing a couple of core pieces who will be coming back that were not able to come today.

“It’s promising to have the level as high as it was, knowing that it will jump up with the level of quality of guys that are coming back.”

Assistant coach, Jessie Rowlands, broke down what the coaches were looking for in players at the trial:

“We are looking for someone that is a standout player, we are looking for people that know what they are doing, that have the IQ and the skillset that we want.

“But we are also looking for people that we can almost mould into what we want. Those with potential that just need those little bits of tweaking.

“There will be some that are just on the edge and there will be some that are a bit lower and it’s just making sure we have the right group that can achieve all our goals by the end of the year.”

With the trials now completed, Fatomide and his coaching team can now start looking ahead to next season as they plot promotion from the NBL Division 3 South West.

He said: “From today, we were able to get a good idea of what the team will look like.

“That allows me, Jessie and KP (his other assistant coach) to start thinking, what will we look like during the season? What will be some of the tactics and playstyles that will suit our players and suit our size?

“We also want to try to represent Pompey in our playstyle the best way we can, because we want to have that overlap with the city.”

Last season’s team agonisingly missed out on the playoffs on point difference, but the building blocks are starting to come together as they look to go one better next season.