Poyet uses basketball to give Sunderland’s skills a boost

Gus Poyet believes every academy player in the Premier League would benefit from playing basketball and has installed a hoop at Sunderland’s training ground.


“Basketball can help in football, especially with marking,” said Poyet, whose late father, Washington, was one of Uruguay’s biggest basketball stars. “The way you turn is similar in both sports. The problem is basketball is not very popular in England – but I’m going to make it popular.”

Poyet’s conviction deepened on Wednesday. “I watched our youth cup game against Newcastle and watching the way the kids marked and moved I thought every player should be playing a bit of basketball. I’ve been talking a lot about basketball since then – and I’ve got a hoop put up at the training ground,

“If you play basketball certain movements become natural. There was a full-back in our game last weekend, somebody was running at him and he was turning, looking at the goal – you cannot mark like that. You mark facing the player and the ball and that’s the same in basketball. You never see a player in basketball running towards his own basket to mark without looking over his shoulder. These little things help you because you have to mark in a certain way.”

Sunderland’s manager has considered introducing basketball sessions into his first team training regime but fears many players are too old to benefit from a sport he played regularly until the age of 15.

“I would think about it with my players,” he said. “Although I don’t think you can learn to play when you’re older. But you could improve a little bit – if the players could learn certain movements I’d believe in it.”

Even so, Poyet is contemplating introducing himself to Fabulous Flournoy, known as Fab, who is the coach of Newcastle Eagles basketball team, and inviting him to Sunderland’s Academy of Light.

“I’ve been to watch Newcastle Eagles but I haven’t met him yet,” said Poyet, whose side travel to Swansea on Saturday. “If we brought him to the training ground, we’d learn something for sure. There are certain aspects of basketball that can be good for footballers. Things like when you need to slow down and play for time is quite similar in both sports. The analysis is similar. You use your strengths and look for their weaknesses, look to isolate a player.”

Had he not become a footballer Poyet could well have followed in the footsteps of not only his father but his brother, Marcelo, who played basketball professionally in South America.

“My dad played a couple of Olympic Games and many, many World Cups,” he said. “He died a few years ago. He was the captain of Uruguay. He was quite aggressive. He was known for his character and will to win.

“For a long, long time, even when I was in the national football team, he was more famous than me in Uruguay.”


By Louise Taylor, Guardian