Mini Basketball Covid19 Recovery Project

Aim

Our aim is to help children aged 6 - 12 return to training and playing games after more than 14 months with no matches or training sessions

Our story

In 2019, we launched our mini basketball programme for primary aged children 6 - 12, alongside our programme for secondary school aged children from 12 - 20, and it was a great success with 120 children taking part in weekly training sessions and monthly games at our central venue, Kensington Leisure Centre.

For the majority of the children, it was their first experience of playing structured basketball and they LOVED it!! It was such a joy to see kids take what they learned in the training sessions into the games, making layups and jump shots and imitating NBA players like Steph Curry that they had seen on TV. 

In 2020, we were ready to expand the project and include competitive games for U8’s as our new professional baskets, funded by the London Marathon Charitable Trust, were now installed so that smaller children could play on the adjusted heights baskets when COVID19 hit bringing all activities to an abrupt stop.

COVID19 Impact 

It’s now been more than 14 months since we have been able to run any activity and the pandemic has really impacted on this. Sports facilities have been closed, players haven't been able to play or practise outside of online Zoom sessions, coaches haven't been able to help players develop and parents haven't been able to keep their children in their normal healthy routine. Most certainly, the absence of basketball activity has impacted on our young peoples physical and mental well being. The pandemic has impacted the entire community and there has also been an adverse financial impact which jeopardizes our ability to run our junior basketball programmes, both training and games, which we are absolutely committed to providing to the local community. It's been fantastic watching the young people of the local community, from a variety of backgrounds, play sport together as well as their parents supporting them. We want to rebuild the junior basketball programme and continue to provide a structured, collaborative activity which will continue to restart to engage youth in the local community and help them with their development across all levels as well as their recovery. As well as the pandemic, local young people have had a lot to deal with over the last few years and can absolutely lead the way in facilitating this recovery and inspiring the local community. For this to happen, we need your support.

What are we raising money for?

The aim of our project is to rebuild the mini basketball programme and get 200 children aged 6 - 12 training weekly and playing games in the Friday Night Central Venue League at Kensington Leisure Centre. We want to offer additional training opportunities for children to train at different locations across West London 

Our aim is to get our indoor sessions up and running as soon as possible and to operate some regular activity over the summer months before resuming our usual training and league schedule in September 2021. Our team of dedicated coaches and volunteers are doing everything they can to get children playing again, enjoying basketball and having fun in a safe environment. Our recovery project is divided into the following parts:

1. Project Restart

2. School Support

3. Restart of the Friday Night League

4. Coaching and Volunteer Development

Support for local schools

Since schools went back on 8th March, we have been supporting local secondary schools get young people active again by running after school competitions in their year group bubbles and we also want to provide support to children in local primary schools to get them back into healthy lifestyle habits. 

Coaching and Volunteer Development

The project is supported by a youth forum of 16 - 18 year olds who assist in the delivery of the project through coaching, officiating etc and provide regular input into shaping the project for children. We want to continue to support these young people get involved in coaching, officiating younger children, developing their individual leadership and citizenship and becoming role models to the younger children

How can you help us?

• Make a Donation
• Set yourself a Challenge and raise Sponsorship 
• Share this page with your family, friends, work colleagues and local businesses
• Share our campaign with businesses that might like to sponsor our club
• Offer a prize or reward for our campaign

About Westside Basketball Club 

Westside Basketball Club provides a structured programme for basketball development and performance at the National Level for seniors and juniors and is committed to developing local talent to compete regionally, nationally and internationally.

Alongside our National League programme, we operate a community programme called One London Basketball in partnership with local West London football clubs, Chelsea and QPR, set up at Kensington Leisure Centre after the Grenfell Fire to help young people in the local community improve their physical and mental well being through sport.

What will the money be used for?

• Resume existing and set up additional community basketball sessions
• Provide activity support for local schools in the return to play 
• Support local children and families who have been inactive during the lockdown
• Continue to develop the infrastructure so that project has an enduring legacy for children and families
• Develop our coaches and volunteers to support our participants 

Our target is to raise £20,000 and if we raise £10,000, we have the opportunity to access up to £10,000 of match funding from Sport England. 

This project successfully funded on 5th October 2021