How Playing Older Competition Helps Growth – With Devon Van Oostrum – Ep. 26

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Great Britain and Koroivos guard Devon Van Oostrum took the time to sit down with us for Episode 26 of the Hoopsfix Podcast.

The 1993 born point guard has been one of Great Britain’s brightest talents in the time Hoopsfix has existed, and also one of the most exciting players to watch with mixtapes amassing tens of thousands of views. Having left England at 15/16 years old to sign a multi-year contract with Euroleague side Baskonia in Spain, Devon has amassed a wealth of experience in the European pro game, along with representing National Teams almost every summer since the same age.

In this episode, hear from ‘DVO’ on:

• What made him first start playing basketball growing up in Sheffield
• How always playing older competition growing up aided his development
• Where his competitive fire and mentality comes from
• Why National Schools competitions are some of his happiest basketball memories
• What made him choose the European route instead of the US
• How difficult it was to move to a new country so young and not knowing the language
• Why, at the time, he second guessed his decision to move to Spain
• His first call up the Great Britain Senior Men’s team at just 17 years old
• Becoming the second youngest player to play at Eurobasket in 2011
• The stacked 1991 born generation U20 squad he played on that finished a disappointing 13th
• The difficulty of being cut from the Great Britain team prior to the London 2012 Olympics
• His mentality going into the summer of 2013 that saw him pick up Div B Euros MVP, leading the U20s to promotion and representing the Seniors at Eurobasket
• His different experiences of being on loan with various LEB Oro teams, along with short stints in Croatia and Finland
• How he almost thought about quitting the game at the end of 2014
• His one game stint in the BBL with Leeds Force
• His relationship with former GB U20 coach Dave Smart and why he likes coaches who are direct and honest
• Great Britain’s disastrous Eurobasket 2015 qualifying campaign in 2014, losing to Iceland
• Why he feels last season with Arkadikos was almost like his first year as a pro, with a big role on a team
• Why he chose not to play for GB this summer
• His thoughts on potentially suiting up at Eurobasket 2017
• And much, much more!

As always, I’d love to get your feedback, come back after you’ve listened and lets get some discussion going in the comments.

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