Hoopstars - All Girls Basketball

Aim: At Norfolk Hoopstars we aim, through this project to get as many girls and women participating in basketball as possible!

Who are we?

Norfolk Hoopstars is a community interest company dedicated to increase basketball participation across Norfolk for individuals of all ages and skill levels. Our core objective is to create a fun and vibrant learning environment within our sessions, aiming to inspire people from all walks of life to enjoy the sport of basketball. We take pride in our coaching expertise, session content, and robust infrastructure, all designed to maintain engaging and inclusive basketball experiences for everyone. Through the Movement Fund, Sport England will contribute half of our target (£4,831), once we have raised 25% of our targeted £9,662.

Why are we crowdfunding?

We are raising funds to provide opportunities for young women and girls to start playing basketball. At Hoopstars, we have an immense love for basketball, and our goal is to share this passion with as many people as possible! We strongly believe that basketball is for everyone, and our commitment to inclusivity is reflected in the diverse range of sessions we offer throughout the week. Currently we have a growing young women and girls section of the club and we want to make this as big as possible.

Girls on average have less self-confidence than boys and rate their performance or abilities more negatively than boys do. This is linked to issues about body image; girls who don't feel good about themselves and their bodies can lack confidence in their physical abilities and may be over-negative about their performance. We believe that through basketball we can break down these barriers and allow young girls to love themselves for who they are, while doing something that they enjoy.

Research shows that in general, during adolescence girls report greater body image dissatisfaction than boys. This is a particularly important issue in sport - research shows that women are far more self-conscious than men when taking part in sport and physical activity. For girls and women the relationship between body image and physical inactivity is a vicious cycle; the more self-conscious they feel about their bodies, the less likely they are to take part in sport, and yet participation in sport has a positive effect on girls perceptions of their bodies.

The influence of parents, coaches and other adults affects girls and boys differently. Young women place greater emphasis on self-comparison and comments from adults than do young men, who rely more on competitive outcomes as their basis for personal judgement of physical competence. Negative comments from coaches and teachers is one of the main reasons for girls becoming discouraged from playing sport. At Hoopstars we believe that we have inspirational and positive role models to act as ambassadors for these young women and girls partaking in basketball. 

At Norfolk Hoopstars we promote an inclusive and safe environment where all are welcome. When we reference young women and girls, this includes trans girls and young women, and non-binary people assigned female at birth.

How we’ll spend the money raised

Through this crowdfunding we would like to support the following:

- Free All Girls Clinics to increase female grassroots basketball participation among women and girls.

- Free All Girls Sessions in schools to promote our free all girls clinics.

- Fund an increase in equipment to support the rise in participant numbers.

- Supporting young women and girls who can't afford our hub sessions with financial support to participate.

- Provide support with sports clothing, shoes and feminine care health products to allow young women and girls to participate in our sessions. 

- Support the creation of Hoopstars All Girls Ambassadors Programme - who will act as role models throughout the Hoopstars All Girls programme. Our ambassadors will be trained volunteers who can support the next generation of Hoopstars Women Ballers.

Community impact

At Norfolk Hoopstars we strongly believe that basketball is for everyone, and our commitment to inclusivity is reflected in the diverse range of sessions we offer throughout the week. Basketball is a fantastic vehicle to develop the whole individual not just the player and we aim to impact this through our delivery of basketball.

How you can play your part

There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.

1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.

3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!

4. Fundraise for us. If you want to run your own fundraiser – maybe a sponsored activity or similar – use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!