“I never thought basketball would bring me to another country, let alone somewhere like Egypt.”
Eleanor Bishop admitted she didn’t know the prize for winning the Red Bull Half Court UK tournament back in Finsbury Park in June would take the LDN Warriors to Cairo for the World Finals. It proved to be a happy surprise, then, when the commentator declared over the speakers that her team had secured a place in Egypt’s Finals.
The Great Pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx, the River Nile and basketball. It is not a quartet that often comes together in any walk of life, but the Red Bull Half Court has allowed for teams from around the world to come together amid an incredible backdrop to play ball.
After the draw on Thursday night thought, the Warriors’ own quartet - Melita Emanuel-Carr, Josephine Maignomo, Kenisha White and Bishop - admitted that while having breakfast on the Nile and touring the Pyramids was nice, they’re locked in. They’re athletes and fierce competitors at the end of the day, and they’ve earned their spot in Egypt.
They picked out games against Australia and Dubai as matches they are looking forward to, but the tournament carries hope for the team going forwards in a number of ways. Emanuel-Carr, a member of the England team that secured silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in 3x3 basketball earlier back in 2018, hopes to see the sport continue to grow in the consciousness of the United Kingdom.
“We need more participation in the UK because right now it’s the second-most played team sport in the country,” Emanuel-Carr exclusively told Mirror Sport . “I think it's just about gaining the respect from government bodies and funding because imagine if we had our country backing us even more.
“We would have more preparation, and rather than getting silver in the Commonwealth Games we might win gold. It’s also an Olympic sport, too, which has to be the bigger picture as a country.”
Bishop agreed and spoke highly of how basketball and the 3x3 format can offer incredible opportunities to travel around the world. She said: “For any young girls or guys who just want to get into a sport, just go for basketball. It's so fun. It's so fast paced and I have genuinely met my best friends of the last 15 years around the world.
“It’s taken me to Egypt, to Malaysia before and just places I would never have even dreamt of going to visit. If I saw this tournament growing up, I would have loved it so hopefully this will inspire more clubs to look at 3x3 and not just five-on-five basketball.”
Emanuel-Carr added: “This is great for the female game too, because sometimes in school is you don't have 12 girls that want to play basketball but for 3x3, you really only need four. Women's basketball in the UK excels; we have a lot of girls going over to America to study and play at the highest college level in the world.
“The senior team also just missed out on the Olympics but qualified for the World Cup. It shows how big we can be, we just need to keep the momentum going.”
Don’t be mistaken; the LDN Warriors are here to win. They are quietly confident given they have competed against high-calibre players - some of the world’s best - before and come out on top.
Emanuel-Carr is particularly keen to make people around the basketball world fear the UK going forwards. After taking a moment to think, she declared: “We want to put the UK on the map.
“I don’t feel like people fear us - and they should. We’re not respected either, so this is an opportunity to make that right.
The LDN Warriors are doing their city and country proud as they take to the court in Cairo over the next few days and they dream of glory. In a sport where the odds are stacked against them in the UK, these four women have earned truly earned their place among the world's best before they even score their first basket.
Bishop simply wants to see the format continue to grow, insisting: “The LDN Warriors are the first fully staffed and sponsored 3x3 team in the country and still the only team that regularly trains together, so to see it growing between last year and this year is amazing. The opportunities we’ve had is incredible.
“We have a nutritionist, S&C coach, a GM. We couldn’t have made it without our sponsors like Elete Hydration and Triple Double Hoopwear. Ultimately, we’re not just playing for ourselves - this is a team, a family.”
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