Interviews by Aristotle Vossos.
Euram : Isaac Greenman
How did your team prepare for the Minicrit?
Practice pretty much consisted of weekly practices on Mondays with a coach and Sundays between ourselves. We were as rigorous as we could be on attendance for Sundays but it’s always hard to try and get people together, as everyone has different obligations to attend. We really focused on learning plays and teaching the fundamentals to our new players, shooting drills, and just learning to play together as a team and building a team spirit.
Are there any particular games you’re looking forward to?
Definitely Le Havre, we beat them last year in the final, but this year they beat us in the finals in both WEICs, so they’re definitely a team to reckon with.
What would it mean for you to win the Minicrit?
For me personally it would be an incredible way to close off my two years at Sciences Po. On top of that, winning it as a captain and leading a team, along with Louise, to victory would be extra sweet. And then just in terms of bidding Reims farewell it would be a great honour to win Minicrit for our campus and leave it with an added bit of legacy.
Nancy : Simon Kessler et Reihane Zitouni
How did your team prepare for the Minicrit?
Reihane Zitouni: It was a progressive preparation that lasted throughout the year, we trained regularly and tried to build at the same time a team spirit while also working on our skills and endurance with our coach. As captains, our main goal was to really help our players bond together. As we got closer to the Minicrit, we really increased the intensity of our trainings to make sure we’d be prepared.
Simon Kessler: We had 3-4 trainings per week, two that focused on building our skillset and two that were exclusively focused on playing. As Reihane said we progressively increased the intensity of our trainings as the year went on.
Are there any particular games you’re looking forward to?
RZ: The matches that frustrated us the most during the WEIS were against Le Havre so we’re really looking forward to playing against them again. We’re also looking forward to playing against teams that we don’t really know such as Paris and Menton, as it’s always interesting to play against new teams.
SK: From a ‘purely’ basketball point of view I’m really looking forward to playing against Euram, there’s always a different feeling on the court with the two sides of supporters facing off as much as the teams are. As Reihane said, there are teams such as Paris and Menton that we don’t know and the great thing about the Minicrit is that anything can happen, teams change from the WEIS to here so it’s almost like a lottery.
What would it mean for you to win the Minicrit?
RZ: As Nancéens we would be very happy and even prouder to win the Minicrit and in Reims, that won last year. In addition, it would be frustrating to be the only ‘promo’ in Nancy to lose two Minicrits in a row! But all jokes aside, it would be a great pride for us to win a Minicrit.
SK: Just being at Minicrit is a great experience, at the end of the year with all of your friends. If we manage to perform well in basketball on top of that and maybe even win, it would just make the entire experience even better.
Le Havre : Marcus Cheah et Dominic Teo
How did your team prepare for the Minicrit?
Dominic Teo: To be honest we didn’t practice a lot because everyone had such busy schedules, but we made sure every practice counted.
Are there any particular games you’re looking forward to?
DT: Personally, I’m really looking forward to facing Euram again because we lost against them at last year’s Minicrit.
Marcus Cheah: I’m a 1A so I’ve only seen the other teams in WEICs but I’ve heard stories about Euram so I’d like to play against them.
What would it mean for you to win the Minicrit?
DT: Winning the Minicrit would just be like a dream come true. Not only would it be an incredible going away gift for all the 2As, but Le Havre has never won first place in a sport before, or at least recently.
MC: We’ve been playing with this team from the start of the year and we’ve really bonded, so winning Minicrit would just be a great way to send our 2As off with a good memory and a good experience.
Poitiers : Gabriel et Léa
How did your team prepare for the Minicrit?
Léa: We worked a lot on building team cohesion, we had practice once a week but also met up just as a group of friends to really build team spirit.
Are there any particular games you’re looking forward to?
L: I don’t think any of us came here expecting to win against big teams from big campuses, but our main goal was to show up, play well, and see the progress we’ve made. On top of that, if we’re able to really challenge the bigger teams and show that we know how to play basketball in Poitiers, that would be a real success for us.
Gabriel: The most important thing for me is to show our players that they know how to play, and give them confidence, especially to the 1As that’ll be here next year.
What would it mean for you to win the Minicrit?
L: Overall, our goal is the ‘prix d’ambiance’, I think that what defines us as a campus is our great spirit and that’s what we want to show at this Minicrit.
G: Obviously it would be a dream come true but also quite unlikely. What’s important for us is to have fun, show up as a campus, and show everyone our spirit.
Menton : Timur Emre Civan
How did your team prepare for the Minicrit?
We had the gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays and obviously because of Sciences Po’s workload all the players couldn’t make it both days. On top of that we didn’t have a coach but I tried my best to prepare the team for this Minicrit.
Are there any particular games you’re looking forward to?
Last year we lost against Le Havre and Euram so I’m looking forward to facing those teams again this year.
What would it mean for you to win the Minicrit?
Menton is a small campus so we don’t win a lot, but just coming here, having a lot of fun, but also bringing the spirit and attitude we have has been good enough for me.
Euraf : Mamadou Sissoko
How did your team prepare for the Minicrit?
We trained a lot, completing both basic trainings but also working a lot on building stamina by running regularly during the week, working on shooting drills, and body reinforcement.
Are there any particular games you’re looking forward to?
Yes, against Nancy and Paris. We expect both of them to be strong teams.
What would it mean for you to win the Minicrit?
We’ve been preparing for this tournament for a year now, so it would be a great way to end the year.
Members of Paris and Dijon’s basketball teams could not be reached.
