Rheanne Bailey missed GB U20 cut but is making great strides

As the Standard Life Great Britain Under-20 women continue their European Championship campaign in Group D tonight, I managed to spend some time talking with Head Coach of women’s basketball at Loughborough University, Coach Matt Harber, about one player who was not a part of the final twelve woman squad that travelled to Debrecen.

Rheanne Bailey is a player Coach Harber has worked hard with this season, her first season at Loughborough University following a move from Leeds. During this time, Harber has seen great strides in 20 year old Bailey’s game.

“She went to Leeds in her first year, it didn’t work out for a number of reasons and then she joined Loughborough,” explained Harber before continuing. “She’s really turned a massive corner if I’m honest. Rheanne was really overweight when she came (to Loughborough) and out of shape. She’s lost 12 kgs of weight this year with us and has dropped 12% body fat.”

Losing weight and getting into better game shape was the first step in Bailey’s development under Coach Harber. And thanks to her hard work and greatly improved conditioning, the previously bulky Bailey was given a new lease of life and new position on the floor…

“Rheanne ended up playing the 3 (small forward) and 4 (power forward) spots in Leeds because she’s got power and strength and she could bully people. But she’s 5’7, she had to move into the guard spot.

“She’s a 5’7 powerful combo-guard with an incredible tenacity. She’s very aggressive and a natural leader (so) she ended up playing point guard for us all year which was tremendous for her IQ and overall development.”

Despite the big changes Rheanne made to her body and game, the task of grabbing one of only a handful of spots on GB Coach Griffioen’s final roster, was always going to be difficult, especially with Bailey only having one true season with which to advertise herself.

But as Coach Harber says “Rheanne has only really had one good year. She’s been playing catch-up this year and my God she’s worked hard.”

In the end, the inevitable happened and time ran out for Bailey. So as Great Britain take to the court in Hungary looking to impress Europe in only their second season in Division A, Bailey will not be with them.

Great strides have been made in just a year for Rheanne Bailey, with improvements coming on both a personal and professional level. Coach Harber says the Midlands girl is ‘in a good place’ now and you feel that thanks to Harber’s guidance, this will not be the last time Bailey is mentioned in connection with a Great Britain squad.