While it feels like a lifetime has passed since the Melbourne Boomers were knocked out of the WNBL semi-finals by the eventual champion Canberra, it’s a loss that still stings for Maddie Garrick.
“It was disappointing we didn’t get through to the grand final,” she tells The Evening Game.
“We had the team; we just didn’t produce when it mattered. We’ve still got a bit of a hangover from that.”
This sense of unfinished business meant it was ultimately an easy decision for Garrick, who was considering a move to Europe at one point, to rejoin the team for WNBL21.
“I absolutely love the Boomers,” she says.
“I loved leading the team with Cayla (George). We want to finish what we started last year, really.”
Garrick is also relishing the opportunity to represent Australia at 3×3 level and the possibility of an Olympic campaign.
She and her national teammates have recently resumed training after regaining access to the facilities at Albert Park. She credits the 3×3 game with improving her performances at WNBL level, particularly her ability to finish through contact and knock down open shots.
So does she still have ambitions of playing for the Opals, or is she exclusively a 3×3 player at the international level these days?
“Playing for the Opals has been my dream since I was a kid,” Garrick says.
“I haven’t been in the Opals squad for a few years now, and I have a good opportunity to play 3×3, which I love and is suited to my style of play. It’s a great opportunity, so I’m totally focused on that.
“But maybe one day I’ll be able to represent the Opals at an Olympic games.”
The pinball machine pace of 3×3 means players need elite levels of cardio fitness; the practices are short and sharp and far removed from traditional scrimmages. “It’s kind of not comparable” Garrick explains. “You’re using whole different energy systems. You can’t really go over an hour of training because you’re absolutely cooked from doing high-lactate drills.”
“I’m trying to put some happiness out into the world”
Off the court, Garrick is one of the most entertaining WNBL players on social media. “I just like expressing myself,” she laughs.
“I’m very easy-going and I see a lot of things I find funny. I just really enjoy bringing joy to people.”
This light-hearted content includes faux makeup tutorials, helpful video instructions on how to play a quarantine-friendly version of beer pong and pranks on teammates and coach Guy Molloy. She also likes to laugh at herself; one video shows her getting on the wrong side of a snapping turtle.
“On the serious side of things I’m trying to get the word out there about the WNBL and other things I’m passionate about,” Garrick says. “But particularly during the whole COVID, these are pretty challenging times, so I’m trying to put some happiness out into the world. It’s been fun.”
“You need to think of basketball as dancing”
Garrick also runs the Baller Beats Instagram and TikTok accounts with Damon Lowery, a former NBL player and 3×3 coach. The short videos see the pair running through synchronised ball-handling drills synced up with pop songs.
The idea for the account dates back some six years, but it wasn’t fully realised until recently and took off as basketball fans worldwide lapped up online content during the COVID-19 shutdown.
After filming a ball-handling video for FIBA, a number of young fans contacted Garrick with their own versions of the dribbling challenge.
“I thought: ‘that’s so cute’,” Garrick recalls. “I love that kind of feedback. Then I said to Damon: ‘Alright, we’re doing this! You’re coming along with me’”
While the choreographed videos are perfectly clickable and bite-sized content for a digital age, they also give an insight into how Lowery teaches offensive skills.
“He told me in one of the first sessions we had that you need to think of (basketball) as dancing with the ball. That’s the way he teaches moves. I took that quite literally and practiced all the time and put my music in. I thought ‘What if you could actually do these moves to music?’”
The videos are also a way for Garrick to push herself and broaden the already polished repetoire of jab steps, shimmies, feints and spins she uses to get separation from defenders at both 3×3 and WNBL competition.
“The moves I’ve been taught by Damon aren’t really taught here,” she says.
“You’ve got your standard moves but (these) come from watching NBA or Europe. We always challenge ourselves to put in one move that people might not have seen before, or one they haven’t seen a female do before.”
MADELEINE (MADDIE) GARRICK 2019/20 STATS:
Points per game = 11.1
Effective field goal percentage = 47.6%
Three-point percentage = 37.1%
Steals per game = 1.8 (5th in league)
The Evening Game 