Male practice players are used around the country at various universities to help their Women’s basketball players. At Georgia Southern it’s no different, so let’s introduce the people who help make our Lady Eagles better on the court.

Who Are They? The GSU Women’s team has 5 practice players.

• Vincent George

• Nick Joseph

• Jaden Barker

• Kyle Ruth

• Kyrie Gibson

What do they do? The practice player’s job is to simulate what the opposing team might do. This prepares the Lady Eagles by showing them what they can expect their opponent to do in game.

•  “We do whatever the opposing team that we’re about to play does. We’ll adopt their play style and get the girls accustomed to how they will have to play the game.” said, Kyle Ruth

• “A lot of teams that they (Women’s team) play next, we will have to run their similar plays and be an example of the other players on the opposing team,” said Vincent George Jr.

How it helps them? We asked them how being a practice player helps the players.

•  “I’m an athlete myself, so this is a great way to be a part of basketball and still help our Women’s team,” said Joseph.

• “Some of us want to be coaches, and then guys like me want to work with a basketball team. It definitely gets us used to the culture and being around it, so it’s beneficial for everybody,” said Ruth.

How to become one: Lastly, we asked about how they found out about the opportunity.

• “They had a flier outside the library, so it’s really open to anybody. If you love basketball and want to come hoop, this is your chance right here,” said George Jr.

• “I was at the rack and overheard someone talking about being able to help the Women’s basketball team. I thought it sounded like a good idea, so I went through the process myself. I emailed the head coach and went about it that way,” said Joseph.

• “There were some posters around the RAC, and I go there a lot so me and my friend thought about doing it and we went through with it,” Barker added.