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Ahead of the second annual World Basketball Day, the Hoopsfix Foundation has launched BasketballCourtsNear.me (BCNM), an innovative, community-driven platform set to become the most comprehensive database of outdoor basketball courts in the United Kingdom.

BCNM empowers players and fans to discover and rate basketball courts across the UK, helping spotlight the unique qualities of each location and identify areas for improvement.

While some UK courts offer vibrant community spaces, many facilities need attention to reach their full potential – whether it’s enhancing court size, updating line markings, improving surfaces, or upgrading baskets and backboards.

As it grows, BCNM will be a powerful data resource to help local players put pressure on councils to properly invest in grassroots basketball facilities, influence government policy around outdoor sports facilities, while also crowdsourcing courts that are most in need of a renovation.

Developed by a team of volunteers at the Hoopsfix Foundation, a not-for-profit whose goal is to grow and raise the profile of basketball in the UK, BCNM will provide the first detailed mapping of the country’s outdoor basketball courts, giving an honest assessment of the state of play.

Not only that, but Hoopsfix has committed to helping support one lucky user to renovate their local basketball court. With all court submissions and edits being tracked in a public leaderboard, the leading submitter by January 1st 2025 will be provided tailored support to transform their local court (terms & conditions apply).

To support the platform’s growth, BCNM is backed by all of basketball’s governing bodies and the UK’s professional league, Super League Basketball, and is calling on the basketball community to ‘locate and rate’ their local courts. By doing this, users will contribute to a vital resource that will help improve the game for future generations.

“Basketball is one of the UK’s most popular sports at a grassroots level, yet the lack of high quality, dedicated courts is a real challenge for players of all levels,” said Sam Neter, Executive Director of the Hoopsfix Foundation.

“BCNM is about more than finding a place to play – it’s about building a case for investment in proper facilities that benefit entire communities.”

Tosan Evbuomwan, a British-born professional player who played last year with the NBA’s Detroit Pistons and is now with San Diego Clippers in the G-League, added:

“Basketball players in the UK unfortunately don’t have the same opportunities as players do elsewhere, because we don’t have the courts to practise on.

“There aren’t enough dedicated spaces to play, and the spaces that we do have are too often insufficient. Their poor quality makes them unsuitable to play a real game or even just shoot some hoops solo.

“I feel this is holding back British talent and potential, so it’s great to see a grassroots campaign like this to make basketball more accessible to British kids.”

Visit basketballcourtsnear.me now to submit your courts, or edit/add images to courts that already exist.

Phase 1 of the Brighton beach basketball court renovation is now complete, following the Hoopsfix Foundation’s partnership with Brighton & Hove City council.

Completed at the end of October 2024, phase 1 included extending the court by 4 metres in length and the width by two metres, resurfacing and replacing the hoops, backboards and posts.

The courts – which you can follow on Instagram @brightonbeachcourt – feature FIBA regulation distance markings across one full court, regulation perspex backboards and spring-loaded rings, and an art-design concept developed by Sam Sure from Half Decent Day that will be installed in the Spring of 2025 to complete Phase 2.

The Hoopsfix Foundation made a financial contribution to the project – which was predominantly funded by Brighton & Hove City Council – out of profits from the annual Hoopsfix All-Star Classic, making it a true community-funded project.

As part of our ongoing commitment to the space, Hoopsfix will help organise a launch event in May of 2025, along with running at least one event there every summer.

Work has officially started on the Hoopsfix Foundation’s second basketball court renovation project, Brighton Beach court.

After Brighton & Hove City Council approached Hoopsfix in July of 2023 after seeing the Clapham Common basketball court renovation project, the two organisations have ended up collaborating to upgrade the iconic beach court.

Included in the project will be the court dimensions increased by four metres in length and two metres in width, the floor being resurfaced, while the hoops, posts and backboards will be replaced with top of the range outdoor equipment.

More than 500 residents responded to a public consultation, commenting on a proposed design and sharing their thoughts on how the court could be improved.

Councillor Alan Robins, Cabinet Member for Sport and Recreation, said:

“I’d like to thank all those who took the time to respond to the consultation and share their views with us.

“By working together, we can create something really special, supporting those who already enjoy playing basketball and encourage new players to have a go.

“It’s all part of our commitment to promote sport in the city and encourage healthy lifestyles.”

The results of the consultation have been incorporated in the new design and include:

– 90% of the responses were happy with the proposed design
– 98% wanted to see new hoops and backboards, which are being installed
– 86% wanted to see a bigger, court – as a result the court will be increased by 4 metres in length and 2 metres in width
– 88% wanted to see more basketball events – an event schedule is being drawn up

The project is being primarily funded by the council, while Hoopsfix is supporting the project with a £5,000 contribution.

In similar vein to Clapham Common, Hoopsfix has set up a dedicated Instagram page for the court, to communicate with the community. It can be found @brightonbeachcourt.

The work will be carried out in two phases as good weather is needed for the floor artwork. Resurfacing and court resizing work, along with equipment replacement will take place over the next six weeks, while the artwork – designed by Sam Sure of Half Decent Day – will be added next Spring before an official opening event.

Related links:

Basketball court set to bounce back! – Brighton & Hove City Council
Brighton Seafront Basketball Court Set To Bounce Back – More Radio
Brighton: Work on beach basketball court to begin – The Argus

Three years after the Clapham Common basketball courts were renovated, they have been given a refresh courtesy of Foot Locker, the NBA and the Hoopsfix Foundation.

As part of the ongoing commitment to the space, the floor artwork was refreshed, bleachers repainted, along with replacing the backboard and post padding of all the hoops.

Here you can see a before and after from above:

The Hoopsfix Foundation would like to thank Lambeth Council for their cooperation in fencing off and protecting the space while work was being undertaken.

The Hoopsfix Pro-Am returned for its third year, filling Brixton Rec for the finals, while being the talk of social media for five weeks.

Working with Lambeth Council and self-funded by the Hoopsfix Foundation, the Pro-Am returned to Brixton Rec for the second straight year, with every Sunday featuring a six-game slate consisting of two women’s games and four men’s games taking place from June 16th until July 14th

The five week summer league brought together the best of British basketball, both seasoned pros and top prospects; targeting elite level players, some of whom are rarely seen in organised competition in the UK.

Headlining names include Great Britain Senior internationals such as Carl Wheatle, Amin Adamu, Jordan Williams, Jubrile Belo and Rob Gilchrist, while on the female side, reigning MVP Shanice Beckford-Norton returned, along with Georgia Gayle, Chantel Charles and Melita Emanuel-Carr.

FunctionAll were crowned men’s champions, while Team Diamond took the women’s crown.

GB international Georgia Gayle was named women’s MVP after standout performances through three weeks, while Peter Turay, back from college in the US, picked up his second men’s MVP trophy after winning it in 2022.

Plans are in place to continue the Pro-Am for the fourth straight year in 2025.

For more information or sponsorship enquiries, please contact sam[@]hoopsfix.com (removing the brackets).

The 2024 Hoopsfix All-Star Classic celebrated its tenth year anniversary with yet another 1700 person sell out as the top under-19 talent from across the country took to the floor.

Taking place on Sunday May 26th at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre for the third straight year, an Under-19 Women and Under-19 Men’s game, along with 3-point shoot out, dunk contest, was supplemented by the new addition of a basketball development conference, that featured sessions on coaching, facilities, content and membership growth.

To celebrate ten years, a special court design was presented that featured the name of every player to have played in the event over the past decade.

The event was sponsored by Jordan as presenting partner, Sportserve, Molten and 5or6.

U12 Youth Clinic

On Saturday morning, Hoopsfix worked with local club Bromley Fury, to run a youth clinic for under-12s, led by GB international and Hoopsfix All-Star Classic alumnus, Rob Gilchrist. At the end of the session he did a Q&A with the players to answer any questions they had.

Basketball Development Conference

The usual Hoopsfix All-Star Classic coaching conference expanded into a Basketball Development Conference, including not just coaching, but also classroom sessions on building facilities, growing membership and content production.

Working with the Basketball Coaches Association (BCA) once again on the coaching aspect, the offering for coaches was led by Alex Sarama – founder of Transforming Basketball and an assistant with the Portland Trailblazers G-League team, Rip City Remix, along with supporting the London Lions, Miguel Ortega, the 2023 WBBL Coach of the Year and 7-time Spanish title winner, of the Caledonia Gladiators, City of London Academy’s Jay Williams – former BBL Head Coach and reigning EABL South Coach of the Year, along with Barking Abbey coach and professional skills trainer, Rikki Broadmore.

For the content creators, the Chicago Bulls’ Joe Pinchin reflected on his time in the UK and showed how to produce content with limited budget and resource, while renowned photographer Carol Moir spoke on getting a club’s photography right.

On the facilities side, Kevin Routledge talked on the process to getting the now 5-court, 2000+ seat Mattioli Arena off the ground, while Jordane Edwards-Maddock and Adam Maddock from the Stamford Knights went through their innovative warehouse space that has transformed basketball for their club.

Finally, for club growth, Pete Taylor spoke on how the Milton Keynes Breakers have grown to over 1000 members in a very short period of time, with Newcastle Eagles’ Ian MacLeod talked on the Eagles’ huge participation base that now sees over 2,500 kids play in their CVLs every month.

The conference was well received, with plans to expand it in 2025.

3-Point Shoot Out

Grace Strickland became the first female winner of the Hoopsfix All-Star Classic 3-Point Shootout to kickstart the 2024 edition.

The Bella Vista prep school guard beat last year’s champion William Issekya on the buzzer in the final round to finish with a winning score of 12.

Issekya only just advanced to the final itself, also on the buzzer, as his score of 13 was enough for second place in the first round in front of Liv Forster’s 12 and behind Strickland’s 14.

Six contestants tried to claim the sharpshooter title in the mixed gender event with Alix McIntosh, Liv Forster, Khyle Capanzana and Joe Buchanan missing out in the first round.

Under-19 Women’s Game

Team White prevailed in a close fought battle in the Under-19 Women’s game with a 72-65 success over Team Black.

Yazmin Edwards claimed the MVP award with 14 points, six rebounds and three steals in the win at Crystal Palace with Esther Kursite providing valuable support with 14 points and eight boards.

Dunk Contest

Remy Udeh claimed the Dunk Contest title at the 2024 Hoopsfix All-Star Classic in comfortable fashion.

Udeh – from London Lions’ academy – cruised past the first round with a score of 62 over two dunks, compared to other competitors Ben Csernak and Edward Onyia who both scored 52.

This led to a tie-break between the two for a spot in the final alongside Udeh, which Onyia won by the deciding factor of crowd noise with a reverse slam.

In the final, Udeh received 9s across the board for his second dunk, bringing out last year’s men’s MVP Nedas Cholevinskas to assist him off the side of the backboard.

His total score in the final, again over two dunks, came to 70, winning over Oniya’s 41, after the Loughbrough Rider failed to convert a dunk in the final including attempting to dunk over 6’11” Tim Oboh.

Under-19 Men’s Game

An MVP performance from Tyrese Lacey led Team Black to an overtime win over Team White 101-90 in the Hoopsfix All-Star Classic 2024.

The 5’8″ guard clutched up at the end of regulation time, scoring a buzzer-beating three to tie the ball game and send it to overtime.

The fourth Myerscough product to win men’s MVP, Lacey registered 20 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals and was helped by strong performances from teammates Joe Buchanan, Tim Oboh, Devontae Dacosta and Oscar Curran – who came up big in overtime.

Leading Team White with 16 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists was Cholevinskas, who could’ve been on for back-to-back MVPs if he saw out the win. Dunk contest winner Remy Udeh also had 14 points and 8 rebounds.

For more information or to discuss sponsorship opportunities around the 2025 edition, please email sam[@]hoopsfix.com (removing the brackets!).

The Hoopsfix Foundation has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise licensing fees required to release their documentary about legendary basketball coach Joe White.

‘Big Joe’ is a 28 minute documentary that tells the story of the remarkable life and legacy of Joe White, an extraordinary basketball coach from East London, who used the failure of his own NBA dreams as motivation to use basketball as a tool to change lives, both on and off the court in Hackney — the most under-privileged borough in the the UK at the time — before tragically losing his life at just 40 years old.

With the film now finished, £20,000 in licensing fees are required from the likes of Getty Images, the NBA, IOC, Sky, and ITV to be able to use the archive footage that is necessary to tell the story.

Joe’s impact on the basketball world was nothing short of legendary. In just 14 years coaching with Hackney White Heat, he won 21 junior national league titles, and 16 national schools titles, but more importantly provided a safe place and direction for thousands of youngsters in London.

Thirty two of his players went on to play professionally, including one in the NBA and two at the London 2012 Olympics.

To donate and find out more, check out the campaign on GoFundMe – please consider sharing it with your networks!

The Hoopsfix Foundation has partnered with Access Sport to renovate and activate five basketball courts across the capital.

The three year partnership agreement between the charitable arm of the UK’s leading basketball media and events platform and one of the leading inclusive sports charities in the UK aims to create more opportunities for disadvantaged and disabled young people to play basketball, enriching their lives through the benefits of inclusive sport.

Hoopsfix will support Access Sport to activate at least five community basketball courts in underserved areas of London.

Hoopsfix is already a leader in this space, having worked alongside Foot Locker, National Basketball Association, Basketball England, and Lambeth Council to refurbish the Clapham Common basketball courts in 2021, which have since become a hub of basketball activity in London.

Sport England’s Active Lives data demonstrates that basketball is consistently more impactful on well-being compared to other sports and attracts people from the least affluent backgrounds, holding untapped potential to transform the lives of underserved young people.

“Partnerships like this one connect Access Sport with a network of community basketball clubs and are therefore invaluable,” Tess Cinamon Duffield, Head of Programm at Access Sport commented.

“By working with Hoopsfix, we are gaining insight into what facilities could benefit from our support and linking directly with communities, volunteers and coaches who want to become more inclusive. Together we hope to provide as many young people as possible with the benefits of this amazing sport.”

This partnership will not only improve and activate basketball courts, but also provide long-term support for the London basketball community.

Clubs will have access to the ongoing guidance needed to set up and sustain a thriving inclusive club, including access to training, resources and equipment.

Hoopsfix’s network of clubs and connections throughout the British basketball scene will be used to maximise the reach of this work, ensuring that communities who really need this support can gain access.

“We know from our own research that dedicated, high quality, outdoor basketball spaces are incredibly important to getting people playing more basketball,” Sam Neter, the Executive Director of the Hoopsfix Foundation added.

“This partnership with Access Sport will allow us to transform at least another 5 courts across the capital to provide better playing opportunities to thousands of young people.”

Summer Jam presented by Foot Locker saw the summer calendar of activity finish on a high at Clapham Common basketball courts in South London.

As part of Foot Locker and Hoopsfix’s ongoing commitment to activating Clapham Common courts following the renovation in 2021, Summer Jam was the culmination of pan-European competition that saw qualifiers held across six outdoor courts – all renovated by Foot Locker – each country sent their winning team, with Barcelona, Berlin, London, Milan, Paris, Rotterdam all represented in the 5 on 5 knockout tournament.

Team Berlin and Team Rotterdam took the Summer Jam Finals crowns in the men’s and women’s categories, respectively.

The London teams; OTS and Powerpuff Gyals – along with one other women’s team, Triple Threat, who jumped in for Paris who were without a female side, were unable to bring home the title in front of home crowds.

The straight knockout tournament saw Powerpuff Gyals reach the final before falling to Rotterdam – knocking out Triple Threat in the semi-finals, while OTS went out in the opening round, also at the hands of Rotterdam.

Meanwhile, in the King and Queen of the Trenches 1 on 1 competition, London took home the title in the Women’s competition, with Melita Emanuel-Carr being crowned, while in the men’s it was Rotterdam’s Caleb Vijber.

After the basketball, there was an after party on the courts, with Sainté performing on the New Balance stage.

Earlier in August, Hoopsfix also worked with Foot Locker and the NBA to hold a junior skills clinic on the Clapham Common courts.

The second Hoopsfix Pro-Am built upon its inaugural year, packing out Brixton Rec on a weekly basis while amassing over 24,000 views on the YouTube live streams.

Working with Lambeth Council, Contested app and Stance Socks, the Pro-Am returned but moved to Brixton with every week featuring a six-game slate consisting of two women’s games and four men’s games taking place from June 18th until July 16th.

The five week summer league brought together the best of British basketball, both seasoned pros and top prospects; targeting elite level players, some of whom are rarely seen in organised competition in the UK.

Headlining names include Great Britain Senior internationals GB captain Carl Wheatle, 2x BBL MVP and GB international Justin Robinson, Kavell Bigby-Williams, Akwasi Yeboah, Jordan Williams, Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye, Orlan Jackman, while on the female side, Ire Ozzy-Momodu – fresh back from EuroBasket Women, along with her GB teammates Georgia Gayle, Shanice Beckford-Norton, who won MVP, Shequila Joseph, Chantel Charles and Melita Emanuel-Carr.

Glacier Boys went back-to-back to be crowned men’s champions, while Team Sapphire took the women’s crown for the second straight year.

England and GB international, Shanice Beckford-Norton, was named women’s MVP after standout performances every week, while Kayne Henry, who has just finished his rookie season in Germany, picked up Men’s MVP.

Plans are in place to continue the Pro-Am for the third straight year in 2024.

For more information or sponsorship enquiries, please contact sam[@]hoopsfix.com (removing the brackets).

*Tickets were not sold, but free via registration.