The story of Masud Saeedi, a young basketball player in England

Currently an English student at Plymouth University, shooting guard Masud Saeedi (6’3, 22 years old) is also a 3-point shot specialist and a strong member of his varsity basketball College team. He tells us his story.

« I started playing basketball when i was around 10/11 years old and I joined my first National League team at 16 years old which was Westminster Warriors.. i played there for 2 seasons until I was 18 and went to the final of the U18 English Basketball League in my second season (2011/2012) and lost..I did not play that game at all..even during the 2 seasons i did not play many minutes.. I think that that had an effect on my overall confidence and when I was playing I was always afraid to be myself and not make mistake. 

Around the same time I was also at a basketball academy called Ealing Hammersmith and West London College where I studied and also competed in the British Premier Colleges League which is now called the EABL. It is an U19 League for the best young basketball players in the UK. 

My first year there the Coach was Max Gvozdenovic,  a very passionate Serbian Coach who had a unique style of coaching. I also had a few friends who I knew before attending the college and they made the transition a little easier as we were now practicing everyday during the week , I was not used to the rigors of basketball practice everyday which is the norm if you do not attend a basketball academy in UK. As nearly all National league teams I knew at that time only trained twice per week with games on weekend. 

Anyway that year, my teammates and coach started to recognize my shooting ability during practice and started to encourage me to shoot more often in the games and as the season went on I started playing with more and more confidence. My coach started to make plays designed to utilise my shot etc. I had 40 points in a game with 10 three pointers on two occasions which is on Youtube. I played really well as a result of my time at the academy. 

I am at Plymouth University in the South West of England where I study Physiotherapy and play basketball. The level is not as high as US College system however I am the main scorer/shooter on my team and I hope to continue playing after my degree somewhere hopefully a high level abroad or in the UK as I know I am more than capable ».

Masud Saeedi Highlights

His YouTube channel : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHVXS03LcKd0Dk-IjPN7qQw/videos

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