As a teenager, Josh Ward-Hibbert was already competing internationally in two sports. He represented England at the 2010 Under-16 European Championship in basketball. Two years later, he won the Australian Open boys’ doubles tennis title with Liam Broady.
Finding time for both meant choosing between tennis tournaments and basketball games. He usually chose tennis, and in 2012 stepped away from basketball to pursue a professional tennis career.
But four years later, he began moving back towards basketball. In an interview with East London Sport, Ward-Hibbert described injuries, the off-court demands of tennis and his wish to continue his education as reasons for leaving the sport.
He enrolled at Loughborough and returned to Derby Trailblazers in 2016. He continued playing some tennis before an opportunity with Leicester Riders allowed him to commit fully to basketball.
In a 2020 interview with Hoopsfix, Ward-Hibbert reflected on the years he spent competing in both sports:
I felt blessed being able to play two sports. I loved and still love both sports.
What Another Sport Can Give
In his book Range, author David Epstein questions the idea that an early, narrow focus is the best route to success. He contrasts Tiger Woods’ childhood in golf with Roger Federer’s experience of several sports before he concentrated on tennis. Both reached the top by different routes.
Epstein describes what researchers call a “sampling period”. Many athletes who later reach an elite level spend their early years playing several sports. They develop physical skills and learn about their abilities and interests before focusing on one sport.
In the chapter “When Less of the Same Is More”, Epstein draws a wider lesson from his discussion of musical training:
Breadth of training predicts breadth of transfer. That is, the more contexts in which something is learned, the more the learner creates abstract models, and the less they rely on any particular example.
Ward-Hibbert described his own experience of moving between sports in a 2022 interview with German Hoops:
I definitely think tennis helped me in basketball, as you said with my movement and coordination. I think it allowed me to be the player I am today.
Speaking to BBC Sport in 2017, Ward-Hibbert also reflected on what the two sports shared:
Sure, it is a different sport but the mindset, the professionalism; all sports require similar qualities.
He returned to a familiar game with experience of professional competition in tennis behind him.
A Place at Newcastle
Ten years after returning to Derby, Ward-Hibbert is in his fourth season with the Newcastle Eagles. The 2026/27 campaign is his 11th season in Britain’s top division. He made his senior five-a-side Great Britain debut in 2024 and played at EuroBasket in 2025. His return to basketball has given him a full professional career.
Ward-Hibbert now captains the Eagles through their first season without Darius Defoe, who retired after 22 seasons at the club.
He once had to choose between two sports he loved. At Newcastle, he has found a team to lead and a place to belong.
