Player profile with Jets rookie Nate Bennett

Age: 22

Position: Centre/ Power Forward 

I started playing local competition basketball when I was 15.

I love how much of the game is brought down to mentality. If your opponent can get into your head, then you will nine times out of 10 have a shocker. I also love that it is the same both ways, so if I can annoy and frustrate my opponent then it gives me an edge on both sides of the court. 

This is my first year.

I love the banter. It makes training and games seem not so serious and it’s always good to have a laugh. But also the Jets organisation as a whole is probably the best I've seen in taking care and developing players from juniors all the way to seniors. 

We are a young side, we only have a couple of veteran state league players and so I think our challenge is to critique our game. We need to learn the state league competition and get better using the advice of veterans and coaches around us. 

I am pretty undersized for my position in the league as well as being a first year state league player. I think my biggest challenge is to be smarter with how I use my size and the way I play on the court. Being able to pass and make plays from the post rather than just looking to score. 

I just hope to be able to contribute in any way to our team succeeding, to do what I can to make us better this year and in seasons to come. 

I feel good, we are ready and keen for a win. 

Just playing our fast pace style of basketball and play the full game. We are best when we grind out, do all the hard work for the rebounds, loose balls, etc so I think if we play our game for the full four quarters, we will be fine.