Josephine Vourliotis following dad's footsteps on path to basketball stardom

Basketball sensation Josephine Vourliotis says her father's love for the game is fuelling her Olympic dream. The Vourliotis family are the beating heart of the Manchester Mystics, with father Ploutos the assistant coach of the senior side and daughter Josephine the club's fledgling forward. Ad Few father-daughter relationships are underpinned by a common love for basketball but Vourliotis would not have it any other way.

BasketballMcKay embraces new outlook in career progression with Reading Rockets20/03/2023 AT 13:06 «It's just a family thing and it's a way we can bond as well,» said Vourliotis, who started playing when she was 12-years-old and is supported by a partnership between SportsAid and Gaucho. «As well as coaching the senior team, he helps me to improve. Every summer when school is finished we'll do our own workouts and I’ll constantly be improving because he's got the experience.

»We can help each other too because he still plays a little bit now at national league level. «It's great to follow in my dad's footsteps and show how basketball can go through the generations – if I have kids I'd like them to play basketball.» Besides her father, Vourliotis identifies former Team GB star Temi Fagbenle as her sporting hero and hopes she can one day grace the Olympic stage as Fagbenle did in 2012. Vourliotis is set to swap Manchester for Kansas to help her bridge the gap to the elite level, having observed the sport's best as part of the Team England Futures programme at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.