Basketball
Heat add Parry
31 July 2007
The BBL Championship holders, the Guildford Heat, have announced the signing of 6'7" power-forward Chi Lewis-Parry, another new addition in a front-court position.
The 23-year-old from Southwest London played last season with BBL new boys PAWS London Capital after progressing through the youth system at London Towers. He spent a year at high school in America before suffering what was thought to be a career ending injury; he subsequently returned to the UK and didn't play again for almost five years.
"I didn't play at all for 5 years", he said, "I wouldn't watch it on TV and I wouldn't watch my mates play. I was through with the game. I was told in the US that I would never play again and that was that. But now I see there are other routes to playing basketball."
It was only October last year that Lewis-Parry decided to pick up a ball again and, feeling no pain, he soon rediscovered his love for the game. Shortly afterwards he signed for Capital and went on to post 9.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2 blocks per game.
When asked to describe his game, the player was forthright: "I play a physically strong game on court. I like to be the strongest there is out there. I like to play strong in the post, very strong and what is most important about me is that I never give up. You can put me up against the biggest and I won't back down. I love training against Mike Martin, our captain. I love the bruises I walk off the court with."
Commenting on his newest edition to a European bound side, Coach Paul James had this to say, "Chi has outstanding commitment and a lot of potential to become a very good BBL player in time. I liken his current ability to the very first time I worked with Mike Martin 10 years ago in that here is a player who has tremendous athletic ability and strength but needs to hone his skills. I look forward to enhancing and developing Chi's all round game in the coming season."
As for being the newest part of the Heat Chi added finally, "It has happened so fast. I could not have believed it could happen so fast, I thought it might take a few years to get to a BBL side. I am grateful for the chance Coach James is giving me. I am extremely proud to be part of this team at this exciting time. I couldn't ask for more"
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