Spalding WNBL Season Preview with Ezi
On the back of her 2020 Tokyo Olympics campaign, Ezi Magbegor is back on home soil in Australia and ready to take the court. We caught up and got an insight into her goals for this year’s WNBL season.
Between the Olympic Games and returning home, Ezi played in her second season of the WNBA in the US. She explained how "The schedule is probably the biggest difference [between the WNBL and WNBA]. We play 3-4 games a week with travel in between, depending on the fixture. Seattle is quite far from a lot of the cities we play in, so the travel is sometimes a grind”.
After completing two weeks of hotel quarantine in Sydney upon arriving back from the games, Ezi was so excited to see family and friends and begin her preparation for the WNBL season. She made it back to begin a full pre-season with the team for which she was so excited, as she has never been able to do that. Her pre-season training regime is 4 days of practice and 3 days of gym/”lift”/strength and conditioning per week. The court sessions are used “to build on our on-court chemistry and prepare for the season”.
With the 2021-22 WNBL season upon us, Ezi is most looking forward to competing every day with her teammates, playing in front of crowds again, and in her new Melbourne Boomers home stadium. Ezi’s motivations do not just run high because of her love for the game, but knowing she’s not just playing for herself, but for her family, coaches and teammates.
After falling short last year, Ezi and the Boomers want to win a championship, so expect them to be ready to bounce back and compete. With the combination of WNBA and local talent, there are plenty of talented players for fans to watch out for this year, Ezi told Spalding.
Ezi outlined that there would be a few competitive teams this year in combat for the title. “Southside are known to be our cross-town rivals, so we know games against them will always be a battle”. She didn’t forget to mention that new talent in Perth and Adelaide means they will also be teams to look out for. The main goal for Ezi this season is to help her team win the WNBL championship.
As Ezi continues to become a role model for young players in the game, she provided 3 tips for those junior ballers aspiring to play at the elite level:
- Practice all aspects of your game. Don’t let anyone put you into a box.
- Soak up all the advice, criticisms, and tips that coaches and teammates give you. Sometimes people see things that we can’t see ourselves.
- Have fun!
We cannot wait to see how the WNBL season unfolds. To get you excited about what is to come, here is the Official WNBL TVC.