United doing ‘the hardest thing in professional sport’

In professional sport, it can seem impossible to keep everyone happy.

With so much talent and only so many minutes to go around, ensuring that everyone in a playing group remains engaged and supportive throughout a campaign is no easy feat.

This is something that Melbourne United, who sit atop the NBL24 ladder at 9-2, have not had to wrestle with, as Jacob Chance explained when joining The Extra Pass podcast this week.

“I think one of the hardest things in professional sport is celebrating other people’s success, especially when things may not be going quite your way…  I truly believe it’s one of the more difficult things to do,” he said.

“We’ve got a lot of good people in our locker room, like A (Ariel Hukporti) on Sunday, he doesn’t quite play as much as he would have wanted to but he comes out and celebrates and enjoys Jo (Lual-Acuil Jr)’s game.

“We’ve got a guy like Brad Newley enjoying seeing what KB (Kyle Bowen) is doing at his position. That’s the biggest challenge in professional sport, we’ve got a really good group and it’s only going to put us in a good spot as the year goes on.”

“It’s awesome to see, it sets your culture up and your environment up for a really good feeling, regardless of the results.”

United’s comradery will be on display again on Sunday when they host the Sydney Kings at John Cain Arena from 4pm.

Tickets are selling quickly, so if you haven’t already, get in now to secure your seat.