Ufuoma Urhioke ’23

Ufuoma Urhioke

    Ufuoma Urhioke, 6’3, Class of 2023 is from London, England. 

     Ufuoma is a shot blocker and rebound extraordinaire. She understands how to keep her hands straight up in order to deflect or alter shots and grab rebounds. Urhioke’s 6’7 wingspan amplifies her ability and IQ on defense. She has a consistent 10-15 foot jumpsuit but her sweet spot is the low post. Ufuoma mainly posts up with her back to the basket. She can shoot over people or go through them to get her shoulder under the basket for a high percentage layup. Urhioke hustles! She puts forward effort to go after loose balls, gaining possession. Overall, she is excellent at gaining position to go get the ball, both offensively and defensively!

       Ufuoma Urhioke attends West London College and plays club for the London Thunder. She started all games this season on her club U18 team. Her same London Thunder team placed as runners up in the Junior National Basketball League U18 in May 2022. Her London Thunder team also won Ballout 3×3 U18 in the London region in June 2022, qualifying them for the National tournament in August 2022.

       Ufuoma was selected for the U15 England Team in December 2019, when she played in a tournament in Spain against Spanish and Portuguese teams. As of April 2022, she is being supported by the GLL Foundation who provide her with free court access as recognition for her basketball achievements.

’21-’22 Season Stats: 12 PPG, 13 RPG, 3 BPG

       Academically Urhioke achieved high GCSE results in the 9-1 grading system: English Language (7), English Literature (7), Maths (6), Science (8,7), Geography (7), Physical Education (9) and Spanish (9) (based on the ’21-’22 school year).

         She was awarded the Highest Attainment in Spanish (2020), Physical Education (2019). In addition, Ufuoma was acknowledge with the Jack Petchey award back in November 2018 for excellence in academics as well as sport.

        Notably, Ufuoma was top three in her Sports and Exercise Science class (June 2022). She is interested in studying either Kinesiology, Exercise Science or Sports Theory in college. An alternative career path for Urhioke would be marketing. 

         Outside of basketball, Ufuoma Urhioke stays occupied with other sports:

• Volleyball U15 Croydon Schools Winners: 2020
  Placed sixth at the Volleyball London Youth Games 2020
• Handball U15 Southern London winners: 2020.
• Qualified for the London Youth Games but was cancelled due to COVID
• Rugby U15 Croydon Schools Winners: 2019
• Placed third at the Rugby London Youth Games 2019
• Netball Croydon Schools Runners up: 2017, 2018

          Some of Ufuoma’s hobbies are:

• violin (achieved grade 3 through ABRSM)
• languages (fluent in Spanish, learning Korean)
• community service (through a program NCS tlast August 2021, her team made a booklet to help those who are struggling with their mental health)
• writing poems