FOR ANDREA CONGREAVES, retirement beckons after a job well done. The former star of the WNBA brought the curtain down on her international career last week having helped Britain’s revitalised women’s basketball team complete its Eurobasket season with a 100 per cent record by beating the Netherlands 60-58.

 

The veteran centre led Britain’s scoring with 14 points and was delighted that she had helped Britain’s women, like their male counterparts, to qualify for the 2009 European championships, and so boost their hopes of taking a spot at the 2012 Olympics.

 

But Congreaves also issued a warning for her sport to grasp their opportunity now, and not wait for 2012 to come along to turn their fortunes around.

 

“We need something to happen now for basketball to establish itself as a proper professional sport in Britain - not just for the men, but for women, too,” says Congreaves, now 37, whose career has seen her play professionally in the United States and win national titles in Italy, Spain and France before taking a Commonwealth Games bronze medal for England in Melbourne last year.

 

Congreaves is the player-coach at Coca-Cola Rhondda Rebels, the only fully professional women’s team in British basketball. “At the moment, we still have a lot of the players in the GB squad who have to take time off work just to come and train or to play international matches.

 

“These are players who are coming up against teams of full-time professionals, where they take care of the players. It makes such a huge difference to the way you are able to prepare and play the game.

 

“This year has been incredible. When I first started playing for England and GB, we might have a couple of weekend get-togethers and then a couple of sessions of practice and we were straight into a game. We hardly had a chance.

 

“But here, we’ve had a block of six or seven weeks, living together, training together, playing together, like a properly professional team, and you can see the results in the scores. It all reflects on what can be achieved.

 

“When I started out, there were other top players like Fiona Murray and Anita Curtis, and I am sure that if they were around today they would be a benefit to the team, because we still have a lot to learn and improve.

 

“But now, as we all go back to our clubs, the sport needs to find some backing from somewhere to help us move up to that next level. Undoubtedly, we need to get some television exposure.”

 

Understandably for a player with such an impressive playing CV in America and Europe, Congreaves is saddened that her sport does not enjoy the highest profile - or a similarly professional league - in her home country.

 

“When I first started out, the big club was at Crystal Palace, where they had professional men’s and women’s teams and they were huge. There was TV coverage of the British game then, but any basketball club in London has a tough task, competing for public attention against football, rugby and cricket.

 

“Basketball in Britain does seem to go in waves of public attention - we need to make sure that we harness that now, and not sit around and wait for some big boost to come along with the London Olympics in 2012.”

 

Congreaves has been a talismanic figure with the GB women’s team in its summer series of Eurobasket games - just as another Briton who made his name in the US, Chicago Bulls star Luol Deng, has been for the men’s team. Public awareness of the sport in Britain is probably higher now than at any time this decade.

 

“It is the best possible platform from which to launch ourselves for the Olympic Games, to have both teams come through and into the top level of basketball. We can now aim for a top position within Europe,” Alistair Gray, the Chairman of British Performance Basketball, said.

 

Given the dark cloud that lay over British basketball at the start of the summer, with the world governing body Fiba threatening to ban English players from international competition because of an internecine dispute between domestic governing bodies, the end result, after UK Sport stepped in to resolve differences, has been remarkable.

 

Whether officials can help to generate extra coverage for the sport, at international or club level, remains to be seen: one idea being floated has been for a demonstration match between NBA sides to be played at the O2 Arena - venue for Olympic basketball in 2012 - somewhat like the NFL match to be played at Wembley next month.

 

Top-flight basketball, seen close up, is sure to inspire a generation of kids to take up the game, Congreaves believes. Certainly, in her role as assistant coach to the national under-16s girls’ squad, Congreaves sees plenty of talent coming through eager to compete in the sport, just as she was two decades ago.

 

“There weren’t many sports that girls were allowed to do at my school. I was losing my passion for athletics and netball, so I wanted to do something different.

 

“Paul Stimpson, who was the most capped England player at the time, was going around schools trying to introduce kids to basketball. He came to mine and asked us if we wanted to go to his basketball school in Crystal Palace. I started going on Mondays and Thursdays and was absolutely hooked after that.

 

“There was just so much passion and movement. It was quick and exciting to play. I’d seen the Harlem Globetrotters and never put it together that they were playing basketball. It seemed to be more of a show. When I watched a proper game there was so much energy. I wanted to be part of it and that’s how I got started.

 

“I wasn’t a very confident person when I was at school. It’s helped me with that more than anything else. I learnt how to approach and talk to people from different cultures. It helps you understand that you can work together with others and achieve your goals. You’re not just on your own, you can rely on people.

 

“I learnt how to be strong, self-disciplined, and to work hard. I've learnt that it doesn't matter if you fall, you've got to pick yourself up and keep going. With the injuries I've sustained, if I hadn't been a strong person, I would have quit years ago. It's helped me achieve the goals I wanted to achieve.”

 

Among those achievements, Congreaves is probably most proud of being named an “All-American” for her playing at college in Georgia.

 

“When I went to college in the States I was named as an ‘All-American’. It's an annual accolade given to student athletes in America for their standard of play. Ten players are selected out of the whole of the US. To this day I'm the only female British player to have achieved that.

 

“My parents watching me play in the WNBA probably tops everything. To have them there, watching me play in the best basketball league in the world, was an incredible feeling. There are no words for it. I think that's probably the highlight.

 

“In 2006 we won a Commonwealth bronze medal. I don't think many people thought we'd come back with anything, considering the strength of some of the teams out there. To go out there and achieve something like that was a great, great feeling.”

 

That Congreaves has had such a long, enduring career is a tribute to her dedication and determination, especially after a career-threatening knee injury halted her in her tracks just as she started in the WNBA.

 

But she says that making sacrifices is what competing at the top level of modern sport is all about.

 

“Throughout my career I've lived away from my family and friends. I played in Europe for 13 years and was away from home for at least eight months out of the year. That was a lot to sacrifice, not only for me but for them as well.

 

“I was fortunate to have a very supportive family. They've always been there for me and continue to support me to this day. I have friends that understand I have a job to do. When I do have an opportunity to get back home we meet up and have a good time. They're dear to my heart because they've been there through thick and thin.

 

“You're contracted to a team for eight months and then you're moving again, so you don't really have a home you can relax in. You come home for a couple of months to take a break and then you're off again. Sometimes you wish you had a bit of stability. I've gained countless experiences which have more than made up for it, but those are the sacrifices I've had to make.

 

“It's never really mattered that people back home don't know me. The only people who could tell you what I've done are my family and friends. But I've enjoyed my career and what it's been able to do for me. Playing in Europe has afforded me the chance to play basketball and do nothing else. I've been very fortunate to do that for so many years and it's something I could never imagine doing coming from England.

 

“I play for the love of basketball, not what I can get out of it.”

 

After her experience of playing for Como, Barcelona and Bourges - where she played in a European Cup final - it is not surprising that Congreaves' advice to teenaged basketball players following her is to look to Europe, rather than the US, for a possible professional career.

 

“If you want a college education for four years, or if you can be one of the very top-most players, then sure, try America,” she says. “But for middle and lower tier professional players, Europe is probably better. It is better paid for those players, and there’s not the tax like there is in America.

 

“Certainly, for high quality professional basketball, the standard in Europe is very good, and it is the sort of thing we should be aiming to establish in Britain.”