Storm Basketball Club have decided to launch a U14 and below Girls National League Programme for the 2018/19 season.
For the past 2 years we have had a link with Sevenoaks Suns which has allowed the female players in the area to access National League training & games. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Len Busch & his team for their support. We do not intend to tarnish the relationship that we have developed over the last 2 seasons, and will still continue to push our more talented/older players in their direction.
This new programme is designed to be an avenue for all of the other girls playing basketball in the area. They will now have the opportunity to train/play at a higher level against their own gender, without the costs/transport issues raised through traveling to other programmes. This is a natural progression for the clubs local league girls programme, and it is important to us that we bring what we offer girls, in line with what we offer boys.
We started a girls local league programme 2 seasons ago and since then have produced over 40 female players in Crawley alone. This is still going to continue as ‘Crawley Storm’, but we will also run a ‘Sussex Storm’ girls team at each age group alongside this. Sussex Storm will be open for all female players in Sussex as we attempt to offer them a strong pathway into National League, something that has been missing in previous years.
“I’m really excited about this next step,” said Karl Youngman. “We have over 230 boys playing basketball in Crawley, supported by our local league & national league programmes. It’s now time to match this number of players with the girls, and this is something that I will be heavily involved in the coming years.”
Daniel Hildreth said, “We are constantly looking at ways to improve our programme and provide opportunities for youngsters in Sussex. Over the past 12 months we have seen a massive influx of females in the area taking up the sport. It’s a natural progression for us to include girls basketball, it’s always been our intention and now the time is right.”
Sussex Storm will have U14, U13 & U11 age groups for the coming season. Trial dates will be announced alongside the boys in the coming weeks. Until then, make sure you come along to our girls open run session on Fridays , 6pm-7:15pm, £4 @ St. Wilfrid’s School.