Josh Ward-Hibbert: A Born Winner

Reaching the summit and claiming victory, lifting the trophy, is the ultimate goal of every sportsperson, but it is so often an elusive fantasy.

Winning requires every circumstance to fall into place; it demands monumental effort and affords no mistakes.

And yet, GB’s Josh Ward-Hibbert has made winning a habit.

There are few athletes who can boast the kind of resume he possesses.

Josh is a four-time British Basketball League champion, a one-time BBL Cup-winner, the current Newcastle Eagles Player of the Year, he was named to the SLB All-British and Defensive Teams of the Year and reached the finals of the European North Basketball League.

Not to mention, he is a tennis Grand Slam holder, having won the Australian Open junior doubles tournament.

Ward-Hibbert discussed with GB what it means to represent his country and his journey from tennis phenom to British basketball royalty.

For Josh, becoming a professional athlete was always the aim.

It started for him in the same way as many of us: in competition with his sibling.

Very quickly, however, it became clear he was destined for more than backyard one-on-ones with his brother.

“From the youngest of times, with my brother also being super sporty, I think that’s probably what drew me towards becoming a professional athlete,” Josh told GB Basketball.

“As you are when you’ve got older siblings, you’re always tagging along to their sporting events and whatever it may be that they are doing.

“I was just always surrounded by sports, nearly every day, every weekend, some form of competition, whether it's one sport or the other.

“I think from a young age, I felt comfortable around sports, I felt that’s where I was most myself.”

The opportunity to just say you’ve played for Great Britain is such a massive accomplishment and something I think most of the players here, and anyone I speak to, hold in such high regard.

Ward-Hibbert’s dedication to sport from such a young age saw him stand out above his peers, quickly catching the eye of Great Britain’s youth development programme.

His success at the regional and national levels earned him the captaincy ahead of the U16 European Championships in 2010. Josh averaged a staggering 18.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 3.6 steals per game, and was named to the All-Tournament Team for his efforts.

By the end of 2010, he was named England U16 Player of the Year, touted as the ‘rising star’ of British basketball.

“When you’re at that young age, the opportunity to play at regional tournaments, like the East Midlands, and then work your way up, that opportunity is everything.

“When those tournaments come out, you’re gearing up for them, and at the time, I was playing another sport, so it was sometimes difficult to balance. But when anything to do with England came up, or the opportunity to have a chance to play for England, that was always something on the calendar that was marked and put as a priority.

“I went through the under-15s, the development stage, and tried to go for the [U16] team a year young, and then just playing for my age, just the opportunity to put on that jersey was more than I could even describe at the time.

“I remember when I got my first selection, it was one of the prouder moments I’ve had, and playing in the tournaments was incredibly special.”

Ward-Hibbert was named England U16 Player of the Year in 2010

For Ward-Hibbert, representing his country on the international stage was, from the beginning, the highest calling.

Reaching the finals of a European competition and being recognised as one of the SLB’s top players on both sides of the ball will always stand out as proud personal achievements.

But the feeling of pulling on a GB jersey and competing for your friends and family – your country – is what drives the best players.

“Being among a group of guys that are so committed to the cause and the victory, it's something that is special.

“I think whenever you're playing in club basketball or anything like that, there's a lot of underlying stories, especially at that age group, you know, everybody wants to shoot all the shots and so on.

“I think the great thing about wearing a jersey for your country, and what I've seen since I've been in the youth setup and here, is everyone just comes together for for one outcome, which is a victory, and it's amazing to be a part of and it's a beautiful thing that no one really cares about anything except getting a win.

Whether that means playing a load of minutes or playing defence or getting rebounds or being a good teammate on the bench, whatever that may be, you can see down the line from the 12 players to the eight, ten coaching staff, everyone's got that same goal in mind and coming together over a period of time just to be able to do that, it's definitely something special.

At the senior level, whilst Ward-Hibbert has multiple appearances in exhibition fixtures for GB, the 2025 FIBA EuroBasket Qualifiers were his first taste of EuroBasket competition.

Josh was called up for the second half of the campaign as Head Coach Marc Steutel, who is also his club coach at the Newcastle Eagles, looked to inject his defensive tenacity and tactical precision into the squad.

Speaking on getting the call-up, Ward-Hibbert said, “Each time I get the message or I get a phone call asking if I’m available… each one feels as good as the last.

“You can never take anything for granted, and there are a lot of dudes here that have done a lot more camps and a lot more tournaments than me, so each time it feels super special.

“Being able to put on a Great British jersey and just be on the court and represent the country, represent everyone else and sometimes more than that, just being in a collective where everyone is fighting for the same goal is something special.

“I think that I think that aligns with myself as a person. I think winning is obviously important for everyone, and I'd like to say that I'll put everything aside for whatever it takes to win.

“So being amongst a big group of guys, guys on court, guys off court, that all have that same goal and all they're pushing for the same thing is a special thing.

“All the guys here are amazing, and I just can't wait to get to work and show what I can do, show the stuff that I've improved on, and hopefully move that on to do something that a British team hasn't done before, make more legacy.”

Ward-Hibbert made 3 appearances for GB in the 2025 EuroBasket Qualifiers

From a young age, it was clear Josh was destined for athletic success, and his stuffed trophy cabinet is a testament to the dedication and talent of his youth.

However, to the envy of us all, professional basketball was not Ward-Hibbert’s only avenue to sporting glory.

In 2012, after making the decision to focus his efforts on his tennis career, rather than his basketball, Josh claimed the coveted Australian Open junior doubles title alongside teammate Liam Broady.

Although basketball would eventually prove his true calling, Ward-Hibbert’s early success as a tennis prodigy provided a unique insight into the rigours of professional athletics and the toils to achieve victory.

“My last basketball was at a tournament in Manchester at 16 or 17 for England U18s. At that point, I was somewhat successful at both [tennis and basketball], but I had a big passion for tennis, and I was receiving a lot of support to play the sport.

“The passion was there for both, but I definitely saw myself playing tennis, and so I wanted to pursue that, and from that point, I put all my thoughts into tennis, and basketball took a back seat – I didn’t play another game with a referee for four or five years.

“During that time, I made some unbelievable memories, met some amazing people that are still in my life today, and, to be honest, I think some of the characteristics of tennis have served me well in basketball.

“I was in a place in Spain called Soto Tennis Academy with Dan Kiernan, and I have lessons and memories from there that have stayed with me to this day.

“It was with Dan and Soto Tennis that I won the Australia doubles, and again, it’s one of those things with sports that you never know how amazing and special something is, and how much of a big moment and a big memory in your life something is going to be when you’re doing it, until afterwards.

“It was a massive achievement for me and something that, at the time, I don’t want to say I expected, but I believed in myself, and I kind of thought, this is what my partner and I were going to do. We knew we were strong favourites to win, so at the time, you do it, and it’s like water off a duck’s back, but looking back, it was something special.”

Not only did Josh’s time amongst the elite of the sport teach him the values of determination, resilience, and excellence, but many of the skills were translatable when he moved back to basketball.

“Movement-wise, there are definitely transferable skills.

“Basketball, especially on the defensive end, is a super lateral sport. It’s multi-directional, of course, but, you know, especially defensively, lateral movement is a massive part of the game, and I think everything in tennis is lateral.

“I think the footwork patterns and the timing of things directly correlates from the tennis movement and the basketball movement, and vice versa, and growing up, even when I made the transition to tennis, there were a few things that I picked back up again quite quickly just because of how similar some of the movements are and the agility side of the sports."

Although he intelligently identifies the footwork parallels as the key transferable skills, it would feel irresponsible not to make the connection between his record-breaking 133 miles per hour serve, the fastest at a junior Wimbledon tournament to this day, and his violent shot-blocking pedigree. There must be a connection…

Ward-Hibbert and teammate Liam Broady won the Australian Open doubles title in 2012

Ward-Hibbert’s professional career has seen him leap from success to success.

After joining Loughborough University, he rekindled his passion for basketball, and began playing for the Derby Trailblazers.

Josh later signed with the Leicester Riders where he would win three British Basketall League championships, before moving south to play for the London Lions. Here, he would claim yet another league title, as well as a BBL Cup.

Speaking on the decision to go to Loughborough, which ultimately reignited his basketball career, Ward-Hibbert said, “Tennis is a difficult sport, with a lot of ups and downs. I had a few tough times with injuries and with the sport itself, and I wanted to further my education.”

“At the same time, one of my best friends Rema Lascelles was coming back from an American university and so we decided to play for our home team the Derby Trailblazers, and honestly, since then, it’s just been making decisions and keeping it rolling.

“I took the opportunity to continue my studying but also play for Leicester Riders and then the next phase was going off to London, and it just kept going.

“At each moment I just did what I thought was the best thing and I backed myself, knowing that I believe in myself and in my work ethic and that that will prevail and it has taken me to some great parts of my basketball journey.

“Obviously my journey’s not over so far, and so hopefully its gonna take me to many more.”

In August 2023, Josh took his talents to Tyneside, to suit up for the Newcastle Eagles.

This past season, he was awarded Eagles Player of the Year as he led the side to a historic European final for the first time in the club’s history, putting Newcastle, and British basketball firmly on the map.

“The cup run was special. I think we were the the first British team to top a group stage, which was special for probably everyone but especially a lot of the British guys involved in it.

“They understand what British basketball goes through as a culture and what British athletes go through, so I think to do that for me personally was special, to put some legacy down which has my name tied to, to be the first, it was definitely special.

“There were a lot of good teams with good budgets and good players and I think to do what we did was commendable to everyone involved.

“Going to that final four stage and beating the team that beat us the year before in the quarter-finals stage; I think there were so many special singular moments during that campaign run: beating the team that we lost to in the final, but being down something like 19 points going into the fourth quarter, just that by itself was something special for the group and special for the club.

“There are so many little parts within that whole campaign which made everything so special.

“It was unfortunate that we didn’t quite get over the finish line in the final, but nonetheless, we did something that nobody else thought we were going to do – probably a lot of people wouldn’t have backed us to even come close to doing what we did – I think as a team and as a club that’s what we’ve shown, that we like to play on big stages and theres nothing but positive opportunities and more greatness at Newcastle for whoever’s involved.”

You can watch the documentary on their run to the final ‘SOARING INTO HISTORY: From Newcastle to a European Final Four’ on YouTube below.

Josh Ward-Hibbert is currently in camp with GB as they continue their preparation tour ahead of the EuroBasket this summer.

GB begin their EuroBasket campaign against Lithuania at 11:30 am (BST) on Wednesday, 27 August.