Interview: Savannah Wilkinson
Savannah Wilkinson is enjoying life in America, having just completed her second year at Florida State University. At just 20 years old, savannah is one of the younger players in the camp as GB continue preparations for FIBA Women’s EuroBasket at the end of the month.
GB Basketball sat down with Savannah earlier this week to talk EuroBasket, Canada and life in camp.
With camp now well under way, Savannah feels one of the most enjoyable elements for her is the ability to train and play with so many experienced players each day:
“Camp is going great, we are training extremely hard to ensure that we are well and truly prepared for EuroBasket. Playing with the professional players is amazing and such an honour, it’s awesome to be able to learn something new every single day. We are heading into a new week now and I look forward to continuing this preparation.”
Building on her joy at working with the more experienced players, Savannah explains that having a mixture of youth and experience is allowing the squad to all bring the best out of each other:
“The mixture of younger and older players has been great as we get to have a different perspective on all parts of the game. We get to learn from each other since we are all open and respectful to everyone’s opinions and outlooks to the game we all love.”
Following on from the trip to Slovenia, GB host Canada in two more warm up games next week. Savannah is well aware of the challenges Canada will present but views the games as an opportunity to see how the team has improved since the last outing:
“Canada is obviously a challenging team but it’s going to be an amazing preparation game which we are all looking forward to. I think our expectations are high on ensuring that we have made progress from the games in Slovenia. As well as ensuring that we are making good footing before the EuroBasket.”
GB being viewed as the underdog by many, the squad are hoping to draw on that status to provide some more motivation. With Latvia, Ukraine and Spain in the group, Savannah knows it will be tough for the team but insists they will be ready:
“Qualifying for EuroBasket was amazing for all of GB basketball. It’s given us some momentum and we all have faith that we will compete well in tournament. We knew it was always going to be a challenge since it is one of the best and toughest tournaments in the world. Our group selection does contain some high quality teams but we are preparing extremely well every day and ready for the challenge.”
Tickets for the Canada game on June 19th are available to purchase here.