Inspired by his PE teacher Steve Cooke, Steve started playing at Alleyne’s School, Stevenage.
And then, thanks to Dave Pollard and Satnam Singh, played club basketball with Stevenage and Serval Lakers respectively. In 1985 he went to Loughborough University and won the Universities Championship in 1989.
He represented English universities in the home nations university tournament winning it three years in a row and captained the team. He also captained the British universities team that won the British Students tournament in 1989.
Steve acknowledges his success to the guidance of England Basketball legend Chris Worcester. While at University Steve coached the Loughborough women’s team, winning English universities and British Student championships.
Steve also coached the England Universities women’s representative team. He also played local league in Leicestershire winning the Division One league and cup titles.
When playing for the victorious Leicestershire team in the inter-county tournament in 1989 Steve was recruited by Dave Titmuss and Mark Dunning to play for Hemel Royals, and following three years at Hemel he moved to Ware, playing under the guidance of Roy Birch, Mark Clark, and Paul Gardiner. Following a year with the Leicester Riders, he played for Stevenage, coached by Andy Gill. During his national league playing career Steve was a regular in the Division One all star teams, and appeared in two national finals, and won the league title in the 96/97 season.
In 1991 Steve was first selected for the England national team eventually winning 16 caps, playing in tournaments in Scotland, Poland, and Hungary, and he was part of the Commonwealth Championship Gold Medal winning team in 1991.
In the 1990s Steve also played for the Ware Jokers team in the Herts Premier league winning several league titles and cup competitions.
After his playing career Steve coached junior national league, winning numerous league titles and taking teams to final fours and cup finals.
He also coached Hertfordshire junior representative teams, winning the East Region inter-county tournament.
Steve coached Hemel Storm senior men for two years, securing a third-place league position with an all British team in the 2013/14 season.
In recent years he has been coaching the men’s and women’s teams at the University of Hertfordshire.
And for the 2023/2024 season Steve has been assisting Lil Frederick with the Hemel Storm Women’s team.
