READING Rockets play three games in four days this week as they prepare for the start of the 2017-18 campaign.

They go back-to-back tomorrow and Saturday when they host Norwegian team Fyllingen before travelling to Brentwood to take on close rivals Essex Leopards, and then host Team USA Select at the John Madejski Academy on Monday.

Head coach Manuel Peña Garcés – returning for a fifth season – is looking forward to his team’s upcoming preparation games.

He said: “It is great to be back and we are really looking forward to this season.

“For us, this is year zero; we respect the past, we will work hard in the present and prepare for the future and this period of time has the potential to be really beneficial.

“Having these games is really ideal for us as it means we have a lot of early competition and can work on some of the ideas and concepts we have been putting in our practices.

“These have gone well so far and I am pleased with the squad we have, but we will be looking to add one or two more to the roster before the regular season begins.

“For sure, there are exciting times ahead for this team and our club and we can’t wait to get started.”

The Rockets boss has, however, been hampered by the news that American forward Tim Gill has been delayed with his arrival to the UK due to the 6ft 9in 23-year-old still awaiting his visa.

Chairman Gary Johnson is optimistic he will join soon, though, and added: “We have experienced visa delays before, but we are confident Tim will be with us at some point next week, at the moment we just don’t know when.

“His application is in the advanced stages so I don’t foresee any further difficulties with this. In terms of the squad itself, we are looking to add one, maybe two more players before the start of the season as we are a little light in the forward and point guard spots and we have been actively looking at a number of players to fulfil these roles.

“The squad we have so far we feel is a good, competitive one, but could do with bolstering whilst continuing to give our junior players a chance to develop, grow, and compete for a spot on the team.”

One player who has joined the Rockets Division One roster is 18-year-old Alex Drincic, who has come through the club’s junior programme and will also be a part of the John Madejski Academy’s EABL Under 19 team this season.

The 6ft 9in forward recently produced an extremely impressive show at the Deng Top 50 camp in London and was ranked the fifth best player for his age group in the UK