The UK Basketball Hub

As national team U16 head coach I have a strong interest in the youth development in the UK.  Each year we observe players and coaches in action particularly in the Regional Development tournaments held in various venues throughout the UK. The one thing that is very reassuring is the style of game, the level of performance and the coaching seems to be improving year to year. The Regional Development system has reaped the benefits of the Regional Performance Centres (RPC) that involves one session each month for 6 months  10am-4pm  in all regions throughout the country. Here the invited kids (sent through their clubs) learn and develop the fundamentals of the game. From footwork to off ball defence to movement off the ball to shooting, the RPC player gains a great opportunity to develop the key skills necessary to grow their game. The RPC has also been great in term of identifying talent for future national teams and gives us the perfect opportunity to monito...

Over the last few weeks of hosting The UK Basketball Hub on Sports Tonight Live, we've seen a range of discussions of what people in the media, what BBL players/coaches/commentators and outsiders from the BBL would like to see in order to propel the league and while they may not all be to your fancy we thought we'd list them and set up the debate! IDEA 1: Stadia and Infrastructure:  Put forward by BBLTV commentator Daniel Routledge: BBL Teams need their own facilities in order to have power over tickets, finances and as well as that training and playing time. Pro(s) - Allows the franchises to prosper from a financial point of view and have control of the venues. - Allows players to train and play when it suits rather than when Badminton is not on the court! - Means they don't have to pay an external party Con(s): -  Expensive to implement - Could take a lot of time to introduce IDEA 2: BBL Magazine: Put forward by Sportsbeat's Will Piper  The BBL sho...

Where it all began..... I had first been introduced to US sports when Channel 4 in the UK started showing American Football and I saw my first of 30 Super Bowls in January 1986 when the Chicago Bears blew out the New England Patriots (Patriots are a far cry from that team back then). Then I was channel surfing on a Saturday one night a few years later and came across Basketball on BBC 1. This wasn't the British League but a professional league in the United States. You have to remember this was a time when you didn't have the various means to keep up with sports like we can today so I wasn't even aware of such a league. The BBC showed a weekly programme from memory of the NBA Playoffs and I became hooked. I didn't pick a team to root for straight away but I began to really enjoy watching the likes of Magic (Johnson), (Larry) Bird and Michael (Jordan). There was something about MJ and it became a natural thing for me to root for the team he played for much like...

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it I’m Daniel  Routledge and for as long as I can remember I’ve been watching British basketball .  I’m n ot quite as old as the league, but its close enough we could be siblings . We pretty much grew up together,  I’ve seen the highs and the lows, the false dawns and the unnoticed successes.  Much has been made in recent days about the future of the game in this country, so much so it’s  got  me think ing  about the past. Whatever your views about the road from here, allow me ten minutes of your time to re-live how we got here. In the beginning The first national league of basketball was formed in 1972, in those early days it was a largely amateur pursuit, played out in small sports halls. It was before I was born, but I’ve seen minutes of AGMs where players were reprimanded for not  personally  selling enough tickets! By the end of the decade, the  s...