Former Gee-Gee Ward joins top German League
OTTAWA - Officials with the TBB Trier club in Trier, Germany announced on Tuesday that they have signed Warren Ward to his first professional contract, bringing him into the top league in Germany.
“I’m very happy to be joining the team in Trier,” said Ward. “They are a very professional organization, they treated me extremely well during this process and seem like a close-knit community. Once I connected all the dots, this was the best place.”
Ward made his first trip to the city at the beginning of June, spending two days in the city to meet head coach Henrik Rödl, who played on the German national team in the 1992 Summer Olympics, and visit the team facilities.
“It’s two hours from Paris and the fields are full of vineyards. I can definitely see myself enjoying living there.” Equally important to Ward is the chance to ensure he can continue to play and develop. He refers to the Coach Rödl’s past experience developing top-level guards and says he already has received some feedback on his shot from his new coach.
Ward joins the Beko BBL, an 18-team league which features 34 regular season games, leading to the German Championship. The Trier squad was formed in 1990 and finished in 12th place last season while featuring former Canadian national team player Jermaine Bucknor as their fifth-best scorer.
“The league is very competitive,” notes Ward. “They finished in the middle of the pack but there’s not many games separating fourth from fourteenth.”
Trier plays in an arena which holds 5,495 people in the ancient city on Germany’s western border with Luxembourg. The club recently hosted the BBL All-Star Game.
Warren is the first Gee-Gee alumnus to go pro since 2010 when Josh Gibson-Bascombe signed with NH Ostrava in the Czech Republic.
Source: uOttawa Sports Info
