Life's a beach for
Pullem
Mark Woods
"I've got a view of the sea from my room," reveals new Worthing Bears
coach Christopher Pullem straight away. If the Sussex seaside is somewhat
of a culture shock to one used to cosmopolitan Boston, then the 28 year
old American from New Hampshire is not showing any strain so far from his
transatlantic move.
"Other than Canada, I'd never been outside the United States before.
But when I arrived and walked into the gym, the dimensions were exactly
the same on the court and the baskets are the same height off the floor.
I haven't spent a lot of time anywhere else so I haven't really noticed
the difference."
Three wins and two losses from their opening five games bear close relation
to last year's 4-2 flying start under Pullem's fellow countryman Chris
Jones. His departure pre-empted a run of 19 losses in a row, so Pullem
is reluctant to make an early predictions of a better finish to this season.
"We still have a long way to go, since we started late in training and
we still need to tighten up our man to man defence, which is very weak.
The League is as I expected, very athletic and very competitive, although
some teams like Leopards and Towers are unexpectedly struggling. That will
change because they have the money to do that, but we don't have that luxury"
So in six starts, what has the coach learnt about his side ? "I know
that if we don't come out ready to play, we won't play well. You could
see it against Leicester, when some guys looked out of it and were stunned
when we went 11-0 down."
"With guys like Jon Gaines, Larry Coates and Steve Nelson, we can stay
in games because they can all hit three pointers, but I know that along
the way there are going to be some blow outs for us. I just want to keep
them to a minimum."
Whether Bears can maintain their momentum right throughout the season
remains a big question, but one things for certain. There'll be no fancy
talk of titles in Worthing's camp until the results justify the boast.
