Devon Van Oostrum: Diary Entry 1

Player Diaries is a new feature on Hoopsfix where we will be following a select few top British basketball players who will be writing their own thoughts and keeping us in the loop of how their season is going. We tip it off with the top young prospect this country has seen in years; Devon Van Oostrum.

Sup Guys,

I’m an English basketball player currently playing abroad in Spain with the team Caja Laboral. I’m 188 cm, 80kg and play the point guard position.

We’ve started off the season well, at the moment our Men’s Second team (Nacional Division) are 8-1. This season our goal is to get promotion to EBA and as long as we keep playing like we are right now we should accomplish that. As for me personally, I’ve got off to a quick start averaging 25 ppg.

With my other team, the Caja Laboral Under 18 side, we’re satisfied with our results so far (7-2). However, we’ve suffered from a couple of injuries; Alex Ramon and Mamadou Diop have had to sit out a couple of games. Nevertheless our target still remains high – to win the Spanish National Championship. The real competition doesn’t start until February-right now the games are basically to pick up some rhythm for when the classification to the Spanish championship begins. Because this stage isn’t really that important, I often sit out games to rest for the Men’s game (they play on the same day-Ed). In the games where I’ve played over 30 minutes, I’m averaging 34 ppg (not to mention the 55 he dropped this weekend-Ed).

Finally, the ACB team, they are currently top of the league at 8-1 with a huge win over Barcelona last week. I am the reserve guard incase of any injuries, waiting for a call up and my chance on the big stage.

Spain is definitely a different world in terms of attitude towards basketball, which makes it important to perform every time you’re on the floor. I still gotta long way to go to get to where I want to be, but as long as I keep working anything is possible.

I’ll be writing again soon, so keep checking back.

Devon