Following happiness to Oregon and back to Leicester – With Holly Winterburn – Ep. 68

By Sam Neter on August 20, 2020

For Episode 68 of the Hoopsfix podcast, we sit down with top GB prospect Holly Winterburn who recently announced her decision to return from the US and sign in Leicester on a three-year deal.

Winterburn, 19, is one of the most talented junior players to ever come out of the UK, having spent her freshman season at top ranked Oregon where she won a Pac-12 regular season and tournament championship, playing alongside three teammates who would be selected in the top 10 of the 2020 WNBA draft.

Her decision to play in the UK over the options she had in the US is unprecedented, and represents a huge opportunity for the domestic game.

The 5’11” guard has represented the England/GB junior national teams for six straight summers, from U16 through to U20 level, making two European Championship All-Tournament teams.

Before heading to the US, she shone in the WBBL, winning two Young Player of the Year Awards, and making the WBBL All-British team, whilst dominating at the junior level winning a WEABL championship and MVP, along with MVP in the inaugural Hoopsfix All-Star Classic U19 Women’s game.

In this 1 hour 20 minute episode, hear from Holly on:

How she first got into basketball at school
Playing a number of different sports such as a football
Getting selected for the England U15 development squad and realising she could be good
Her role models and inspirations as a young teenager
Disconnect between younger players and the GB senior players
Whether playing with older players at such a young age helped with her maturity off-court
Her first practice with Leicester’s WBBL side as a 15 year old
Advice she would give for younger players to cultivate self belief and confidence
The challenge of tuning out other people’s opinions
When the college coaches came knocking
What it means to represent her country and why she has suited up for the national team for six straight summers
Playing her best basketball with GB in the summer
Preparation time for the junior national teams
Her lack of call up to the GB Senior Women’s team yet
Weighing up options and making the decision which school in the US to go to
Her three visits and the recruitment process
The level of provision at Oregon
The struggle with playing time
Her first basket at Oregon against the USA Senior Women’s national team
Winning the Pac-12 regular season and tournament title
Missing out on March Madness
Making the decision to transfer to UC Davis
Deciding to return home to sign with Leicester and the role the pandemic had
The importance of her happiness off the floor to be happy on it
Whether or not her goal is still to play professionally abroad in the long term
Her aim to help grow the profile of the WBBL and domestic game
Working with younger players
And much, much, more!

The show has been approved on iTunes – find it here and please subscribe to automatically receive new episodes straight to your phone/computer/tablet – if you could give us a review/rating it would be much appreciated to help the podcast spread far and wide, meanwhile it is also on Spotify here, Overcast, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts.

You can support Hoopsfix’s work in helping to grow British basketball on Patreon.

Do you like our work?

We have a tiny favour to ask. In 2018 we set out to make Hoopsfix sustainable by building our relationship directly with our readers. Up until now, Hoopsfix has been creating editorials, videos and podcasts to provide sorely missing coverage of the British game and its distinct culture and community.

We have funded Hoopsfix with our freelance work creating basketball media, but sadly that means not only does it fall behind our client’s priorities, but some of those clients are the same organisations we need to report objectively on putting us in a conflicted position.

We want to devote more time to our mission of helping British basketball reach its potential, and produce even more content for the basketball community by making Hoopsfix a sustainable 100% independent business funded directly by our readers through Patreon.

If everyone who enjoys our content chose to support us, our future would be much more secure. For as little as $3 per month, you can support Hoopsfix – and it only takes a minute.

We are tremendously honoured and humbled to have a community of people who value what we do, and we look forward to being at the forefront of the British game as it continues to evolve.

Support Hoopsfix