Ridley guard commits to McMaster
Joshua Loblaw is a classic late bloomer.
The 19-year-old Toronto native played a variety of sports growing up before settling on tennis. By the time he was in his early teens, Loblaw grew tired of the sport and switched from the tennis court to the basketball court.
“I only started basketball when I was 14 or 15,” Loblaw said. “I lost the passion for tennis and found this love for basketball.”
Loblaw’s basketball journey started simply enough when a coach at his high school (Bayview Glen) approached him to give the sport a try due to his height.
“I wasn’t getting any playing time but the thought of starting at the absolute bottom somewhere and not playing at all and just working my way up was kind of interesting,” Loblaw said. “I had a chip on my shoulder that way and tried to improve as fast as I could.”
Loblaw quickly took to the sport and after Grade 10 transferred to Brewster Academy in New Hampshire, a top prep school in the United States.
“I was getting pretty good and wanted to play against better competition to develop my skills,” he said. “It was a great experience.”
Loblaw was part of a National Prep School championship squad his first year but wasn’t getting the playing time he desired and switched to Ridley College in January of 2020.
“Athletically, I wasn’t meeting my own demands,” Loblaw said. “I wasn’t getting the level of exposure and level of dominance I wanted so after hearing about the whole COVID thing on the rise at the beginning of 2020 I decided to try and come back to Canada and be near my family.”
That decision proved to be vital for Loblaw who finished out the 2020 season with Ridley and recently committed to McMaster University, where he will major in business.
“I’m extremely excited to continue my basketball career post-secondary athletically and academically at McMaster,” he said. “The process was kind of weird for me. I had a good amount of interest from D1 programs in the States and then my recruitment kind of stunted.”
Loblaw acknowledged not being able to play last season because of the COVID pandemic was not ideal in his Grade 12 year.
“It was frustrating but there is nothing I could have done or anyone could have done,” he said. “Everyone in my year felt the same way looking for a spot on a certain team and trying to go to the States to play.
“We still got to train and better ourselves and skills so that was good.”
Loblaw feels he is ready to make the move to the next level.
“I’ve been practising and training with university guys for a long time now,” he said. “The biggest thing is the pace and everyone is older and stronger. I’ll be coming in as a freshman at 19.
“I need to adapt to the game physically and get used to the amount of body contact and the mentally of doing what you have to do. Some of these guys are future pros and have the mentality of competing every day.”
Ridley coach Tarry Upshaw feels Loblaw is primed for the transition.
“When Josh was at Brewster, there were five guys there who are now in the NBA,” Upshaw said. “He’s a good player. He’s tough, strong and athletic. He’s smart and competes all the time. I think Mac got a steal.”
Upshaw loves Loblaw’s skill set from the guard position.
“He’s a kid who is going to come in and play right away. He was arguably our best player last year. If we had played, he would have been our top scorer. He can score at multiple levels. He was in the weight room early and his body was ready to play university when he got to Ridley. If he gets a chance to play he will really show it.”
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