23/24 Season Sessions Launched

Our community sessions for the 23/24 season are now available.

We are excited to introduce new sessions at each of our hubs, offering enhanced age group differentiation.

Additionally, we’re thrilled to announce the launch of a new hub in Horley!

To view session times and make monthly/termly payments, please follow this link:

Community Basketball Sessions 22/23

We’re pleased to announce the CBL training schedule for the new season, starting the week commencing 5th September.

Following successful launch of additional hubs in East Grinstead, Horsham & Haywards Heath in the Spring of 2022, we’re looking at expanding in some of these areas, whilst also offering more in Crawley.

These sessions are open for all and you are welcome to attend whichever session suits your location, day or time preference, so long as it is the same age group. You are also welcome to attend multiple sessions if you so wish. No experience necessary, and we’re always looking for new players, so bring your friends.

The new schedule & online booking can be found here:

The session can be attended on a pay as you go basis wish cash on the day, or they can be booked online for the entire term or year. NOTE: There is no longer an option to pay for individual session online due to the admin this creates.

We will do our best to pre-populate register based on last years session attendance, but if you are planning on attending a new session then please let us know at webiste.sbfoundation@gmail.com.

NOTE: Conference and U12 National League players need not sign up via the link above, as this will be included in your season fees. 

NEW PLAYERS: Those who are completely new to the club then please fill in the following: Click here. Once complete, please email webiste.sbfoundation@gmail.com to let us know there is a new entry. The first session is free for new players, it is then pay as you go or pay for the full term from there on. Once the form is complete then you’re welcome to attend your desired session.

CBL & BotB

The Crawley Basketball League (CBL – Yrs 7-13) and The Battle of the Borough (BotB – Yrs 2-6) will be kicking off from October. A separate sign up link will be made available for these.

This is the first step on our player pathway and are our fortnightly intramural leagues that allow players maximum opportunity to develop in game scenarios. Again these are open for all. You need only attend one of our community sessions or school session and then express interest to play. 

Signing up for these leagues includes the ordering of kit (I know plenty have asked how to get a kit!) and will ensure regular games to put the training sessions to work. Further information about both can be found here: CBL or BotB.

We’re hoping to have enough interest to bring back the separate Yr 2-4 BotB league and also create a girls only BotB, so get recruiting!

Thats all for now, if you have any questions then please dont hesitate to ask. 

Looking forward to working with you for the upcoming season.

Community Coaching Role 2022/23

We are looking for a Community Coach to deliver our existing programme in Crawley & surrounding areas. The programme currently delivers sessions in Primary & Secondary Schools in Crawley, East Grinstead, Haywards Heath, Horsham and Horley.

The role is primarily focused on delivering sessions with primary school children during breakfast, curriculum and after school clubs, but will also see the coach deliver in our Crawley Basketball League (CBL) & National League programmes.

The CBL caters for players aged 5-18, boys & girls with grassroots sessions based at the secondary schools around the town. Our National League Programme offers teams from U12 to U18, from regional to Premier, as is one of the most successful programmes in the South.

The candidate will need to be a confident communicator and will also be in charge of the planning and oversight of the CBL and delivery of high quality National League sessions and game coaching.

We’re looking for active L2 coaches, currently coaching in the basketball community, with the ability to drive to be able to deliver fun & progressive sessions all across Crawley with a start in September 2022.

For more details, check out the job description below. If interested then please email your CV to karl@stormbasketballclub.com. Applications close on Friday 29th of July.

CBL Coach and Schools Coach Roles 2022/23

We are looking for a Community Coach to deliver our existing programme in Crawley & surrounding areas. The programme currently delivers sessions in Primary & Secondary Schools in Crawley, East Grinstead, Haywards Heath, Horsham and Horley.

The role is primarily focused on delivering sessions with primary school children during breakfast, curriculum and after school clubs, but will also see the coach deliver in our Crawley Basketball League (CBL) & National League programmes.

The CBL caters for players aged 5-18, boys & girls with grassroots sessions based at the secondary schools around the town. Our National League Programme offers teams from U12 to U18, from regional to Premier, as is one of the most successful programmes in the South.

The candidate will need to be a confident communicator and will also be in charge of the planning and oversight of the CBL and delivery of high quality National League sessions and game coaching.

We’re looking for active L2 coaches, currently coaching in the basketball community, with the ability to drive to be able to deliver fun & progressive sessions all across Crawley with a start in September 2022.

For more details, check out the job description below. If interested then please email your CV to karl@stormbasketballclub.com. Applications close on Friday 29th of July.

Community Coaching Role 2022

We are looking for a Community Coach to deliver our existing programme in Crawley & surrounding areas. The programme currently delivers sessions in almost every primary school in Crawley and all 7 Secondary Schools.

The role is primarily focused on delivering sessions with primary school children during breakfast, curriculum and after school clubs, but will also see the coach deliver in our Crawley Basketball League (CBL) & National League programmes.

The CBL caters for players aged 5-18, boys & girls with grassroots sessions based at the secondary schools around the town. Our National League Programme offers teams from U12 to U18, from regional to Premier, as is one of the most successful programmes in the South.

The candidate will need to be a confident communicator and will also be in charge of the planning and oversight of the CBL and delivery of high quality National League sessions and game coaching.

We’re looking for active L2 coaches, currently coaching in the basketball community, with the ability to drive to be able to deliver fun & progressive sessions all across Crawley with an immediate start.

For more details, check out the job description below. If interested then please email your CV to karl@stormbasketballclub.com. Applications close on Friday 17th of December.

Community Coaching Role

We are looking for a Community Coach to deliver our existing programme in Crawley & surrounding areas. The programme currently delivers sessions in almost every primary school in Crawley and all 7 Secondary Schools.

The role is primarily focused on delivering sessions with primary school children during breakfast, curriculum and after school clubs, but will also see the coach deliver in our Crawley Basketball League (CBL) & National League programmes.

The CBL caters for players aged 5-18, boys & girls with grassroots sessions based at the secondary schools around the town. Our National League Programme offers teams from U12 to U18, from regional to Premier, as is one of the most successful programmes in the South.

The candidate will need to be a confident communicator and will also be in charge of the planning and oversight of the CBL and delivery of high quality National League sessions and game coaching.

We’re looking for active L2 coaches, currently coaching in the basketball community, with the ability to drive to be able to deliver fun & progressive sessions all across Crawley.

‘This is a great full time coaching role within our ever-growing programme’, said Karl Youngman. ‘Its revolves around one of the more important roles in the club, which is bringing the sport to new players and getting them involved in the club pathway. I’m excited to see what candidates we will have.’

For more details, check out the job description below. If interested then please email your CV to karl@stormbasketballclub.com. Applications close on Friday 13th of August.

Community Programme Expansion

We’re excited to announce 5 new coaching jobs in partnership with the Governments Kickstart Scheme, which aims to create new jobs for 18-24 year olds.

The full time community coaching roles will be primarily focused around schools coaching, but will also have outlets to expand CBL sessions to Crawley and the surrounding areas. There will also be opportunities to get involved with the clubs National League programme.

Whilst we are predominantly looking for ready made basketball coaches, the scheme also provides funding for training, which means previous coaching qualifications and experience may not be necessary.

The role will start in September and applicants will need to be able to drive, or on their way to being able to drive by the start of the position.

“This is a great opportunity for us to create new jobs for young people, who most definitely will have been hit hard by the pandemic, whilst also expanding our provision and help bring basketball to more and more children” Said Karl Youngman. “We are looking for active basketball coaches, but if there are any coaches out there looking to change sport, or people with interest in the sport but not yet having coached, we’re looking for you too. Freddie Winton is a model example of a player fresh out of college, but in the last couple of years has transitioned into coaching. He is now thriving in his community role whilst also heading up our U14 Conference National League squad and coaching for the South East Region. We’re looking for more Freddies!’

If you are interested in the role or for more info about the job description/salary, then please email karl@stormbasketballclub.com.

#AllGirls Basketball Crawley

We are joining Basketball England and the ‘All Girls’ campaign with the launch of an all girls local league and a 14-18 Yr old Satellite Club. The aim is simple, we want to get more girls playing basketball!

Basketball England’s All Girls campaign is aimed at engaging more women and girls within our sport as fans, players, coaches, officials, volunteers and ambassadors.

The campaign has three main elements:  

  • To create awareness of opportunities for females to play, coach, officiate or volunteer and shine a spotlight on the female role models
  • To create a new All Girls Ambassador network
  • To create new opportunities and sustain existing basketball activity

All Girls League

On Friday 25th October we are launching a Year 7/8 Girls category in the Crawley Basketball League (CBL). This will be the only ‘All Girls’ local league in the South East region, and one of the only leagues Nationally. Any girl wishing to play basketball, novice or experienced, will need to sign up and will then be placed on a team to compete in the league. Teams are made up of only 6-7 players, allowing plenty of court time to develop and learn through play. There will be 2 games played every 3 Fridays. We’ will also be looking for all female Referee’s and table officials where possible for these fixtures.

If you are in Year 7 or 8 and interested in learning/playing in a friendly environment then sign up here: https://stormbasketballclub.com/product-category/crawley-basketball-league/cbl-u13-girls-year-7-8/

Year 7 & 8 Girls Training

Monday – 5pm-6.30pm @ The Holy Trinity School, £5

Tuesday – 4.45pm-6pm  @ Oriel High School, £4

Saturday – 9.30am-10.45am @ The Holy Trinity School, £5

14-18 Girls Satellite Club

In conjunction with K2 Crawley and ActiveSussex we are launching a 14-18 yr old (Yrs 9-13) Satellite Club session on Thursdays 5-6pm at K2, starting November 7th. The cost of the session is only £1 and its aimed at filling a gap of provision in Crawley.

Crawley Storm Head Coach Karl Youngman said; ‘we have previously not been able to offer Yr 9-13 girls an outlet to play regular, competitive basketball, so I’m glad we are now able to do so.
All Crawley secondary schools have been signed up to competing in the North District for the Yr 8/9 and 10/11 girls league, so if any players enjoy this experience, now have the opportunity to play outside of school.’ He added ‘this is a great session for late starters or those that want to learn the game, try something new, or even just keep fit. We’re hoping to see plenty of new faces’

The U13 girls CBL league and 14-18 Satellite club fill a much needed gap in the clubs female provision. We currently offer training and playing opportunities for girls from Reception through to Yr 6 via our mini basketball sessions and Battle of the Borough League. (https://stormbasketballclub.com/product-category/battle-of-the-borough/).
We also offer elite girls the opportunity to play National League via our U12 & U14 Regional & our U14 Premier National league teams. The ‘All Girls’ campaign will naturally aid us in bringing the girls programme in line with that of the boys

If you want to get involved in the All Girls campaign then get in touch, and make sure to use #AllGirls on any posts!

Her Time: HTS Storm launch Girls Basketball Academy Programme!

HTS Storm Basketball Academy are proud to announce the official launch of our Girls Academy Programme – following closely behind the programme’s rebrand to HTS Storm back in the summer. The female players at Holy Trinity School will continue to receive the expert provision of coaching, strength & conditioning and video analysis, whilst having the opportunity to test their skills in expanded competitive opportunities.

Girls basketball has been steadily on the rise in Crawley over the last four years, with the rapid growth kick-started by Crawley Cagers starting the first ever girls-only local league team in the town four seasons ago. After rebranding to become Storm Basketball Club in 2017/18, girls basketball continued to progress when the Crawley Storm Local League programme added further girls teams at the younger end of the player pathway. The 2018/19 season saw a number of major developments to the female side of the programme, when Crawley Storm entered two girls-only Local League Under 12’s teams, and the Sussex Storm National League programme entered its first female team at the Under 14 Girls age group. The growth of the club programme has continued into the 2019/20 season with the addition of the first girls-only Local League competition in the county as part of the Crawley Basketball League. Meanwhile, at the National League end of the pathway, the provision of Sussex Storm has expanded to offer three teams – Under 12 Regional, Under 14 Regional and Under 14 Premier. Storm Basketball Club are proud to be the only club to offer Premier girls basketball in the county, setting the standard for female competition in Sussex.

“This was the long term plan when we started the girls teams four years ago,” says Karl Youngman, Storm Local League Head Coach. “The girls in town that were interested in playing had no outlet to do so, so we followed the same model that we used to grow the boys programme – start with an Under 12 group and reset to add a team each year.” Coach Youngman continued, “Now with the club and schools’ programmes combined we have hundreds of girls playing from Under 7 upwards. We will keep going until the female provision and participation mirrors that of the boys.”

A dominant 2018/19 season in local competition saw Holy Trinity School capture Sussex Schools County Cup titles at Under 12, Under 14 and Under 16 age groups – before reaching the Last 16 of the Dynamik National Schools championships at Under 14 and Under 16. Hoping to repeat this success, the HTS Storm Girls Basketball Academy will this year compete in the Dynamik National Schools competition at the Under 17 and Under 19 age groups, with the lower school also ready to defend their county titles at Under 12, Under 14 and Under 16.

The expanded provision of the HTS Storm Basketball Academy to offer an elite outlet for female players across Sussex and beyond comes as a reaction to the growing numbers of girls engaging with the game through the work of the Storm Basketball Foundation. With over 300 female participants across the vast schools programmes and 50+ girls within Storm Basketball Club – the talent pool is there to push through the programme to compete at the elite level when they reach Under 19 competition. The progression of the female talent across the Storm programme was evidenced in summer 2019 when 20 players earned county honours, 3 went on to represent the South East Region and 1 earned National Team honours. Chennai Mushore, who has been with the programme for the last four years throughout its transition from Crawley Cagers to Storm Basketball Club, was this summer the first female player to earn Great Britain honours as she represented the Under 16 Women at the European Championships in Bulgaria. With players of Chennai’s calibre making their way through the foundation, school and club programmes, the need for an elite female outlet is clear.

The international recognition in the HTS Storm Girls Academy does not end with the playing prowess of performers such as Chennai, with Barney Blake stepping up to lead the programme as Girls Academy Head Coach. Coach Blake has recently represented the England Talent Programme as the Under 15 Girls assistant coach, while also being named Head Coach of the South East U13 Girls squad for the 2019 Aspire Tournament. Alongside the upcoming exploits with HTS Storm, the former Great Britain Under 18 Women Assistant Coach has also recently been appointed as the South East Girls Aspire Head Coach – evidencing the calibre of coaching that our HTS Storm players will receive within the Girls Academy programme.

“One of the reasons I made the move to join HTS Storm last season was their passion for developing the female game across the club and academy, along with the massive potential and room for growth,” explains Barney Blake, HTS Storm Girls Academy Head Coach. “The number of girls we have playing across all that Storm Basketball provides is mind-blowing, and some of the talent coming through will definitely turn some heads.” Coach Blake summarised, “We hope that HTS Storm Basketball Academy can become a legitimate option for elite girls across Sussex, the South East Region and beyond – an environment where they are supported to achieve their potential on and off the court, as they further both their studies and their performance.”

The launch of the HTS Storm Girls Basketball Academy marks the arrival of the first female Academy Programme in the South East Region, now mirroring the boys programme in providing a highly competitive option for girls across the county and region to achieve their basketball dreams without having to move across the country.

For more information about Holy Trinity School and the HTS Storm Girls Basketball Academy, please email basketball@holytrinitycrawley.org.uk to register your interest for the upcoming Sixth Form Open Evening on Wednesday 16th October 2019, 6.00pm-8.00pm. Alternatively, if you are unable to attend the Open Evening, we would be more than happy to set up an individual visit at a time convenient for you. 

HTS & Train to Perform Partner for 19/20 Season

Holy Trinity School Basketball Academy is going from strength to strength, quite literally!

In September 2019, the HTS basketball programme will welcome Train to Perform – who will be conducting the strength & conditioning programmes for our academy students. Having previously worked with Surrey Scorchers in the BBL and leading on the physical profiling & fitness testing for Deng Camp UK, Train to Perform joins the programme with a pedigree in game to match the vision of high calibre delivery at HTS. 

Head Coach Daniel Hildreth said, “The support we get from the Senior Leadership Team at the school is second to none. They have the same vision as us: to create the best opportunities for our students and, in doing so, aiming to bring in the best support to do just that.” 

With the introduction of National Team coach Barney Blake this year, the ever increasing staff list just goes to show the quality and aspirations of the programme. 

Coach Hildreth continued, “We genuinely feel that we have created a programme that has the potential to compete with the elite academies up and down the country. We have a club that runs from u8 all the way up to u19 academy basketball, which means we are able to develop home grown players and give them the opportunity to play at the highest level here in Sussex. We have been successful doing this over the years, but we are always looking to improve. Bringing Train to Perform on board is a huge step for our programme, for both the school and the club, and I’m delighted that we’ll have them working with our students from September.”

Train to Perform is lead by Liam Mitchell, who has just returned from Tokyo with the Great Britain Sailing team as they prepare for their Olympic campaign next year. Liam has also spent time with the prestigious English Institute of Sport, before working with the RFU supporting the England Rugby 7s program. The ex-BBL basketball player comes with a wealth of knowledge not only in the strength & conditioning industry, but also the specific requirements of elite level basketball. Investing in new state of the art equipment will assist with this process.

Liam said, “I’m really excited to be working alongside Holy Trinity School and Storm Basketball Club. These guys have already put a fantastic programme in place for the players, and having the opportunity to be involved in this is something I know will have an even bigger impact to their success.” 

“I was born and raised in Sussex,” Liam added, “so I am really proud to be part of one of the best junior programmes in the country and will do what I can to keep supporting players from Sussex to compete at the highest level.”​