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#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!

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Coaching Announcements

With Storm Basketball Club growing so quickly, we’ve been fortunate enough to secure 6 new coaches for the upcoming season. Ian Berry, Michael Kwentoh, Freddie Winton, Denny Burling, Keanu Kellett & Mark Chiang will all be joining our coaching ranks, further growing and developing our workforce across the Local League, National League and Foundation programmes.

Ian & Michael will be joining our Sussex Storm National League programme and come with a wealth of experience coaching at various levels across London. Having played NBL Division One last year for Hemel Storm, Ian is a product of Sussex basketball, having played for the programme when it was known as Brighton Bears, before moving to London & working with Greenhouse Sports. Michael runs Chiswick Gators, a successful local league programme operating in West London. He also has a wealth of National League coaching experience having previously helped NASSA to a Final Four appearance in 2013, while more recently working with Richmond Knights. In addition, Michael is a nationally respected referee who has officiated at the highest levels of National League.

Denny, Keanu & Freddie are Crawley basketball alumni, having come through the Local League, National League and Academy systems themselves, and they are now coming back to the club to give back to invest in the future. All are currently involved in the Summer Term of Battle of the Borough (BotB), and moving forwards the trio will be heavily involved in the Crawley Storm Local League programme, while Freddie will also be working for the Storm Basketball Foundation within schools in the area.

Mark has also been involved in the Summer Term of BotB as one of our new and developing coaches, with a background playing as a junior in Eastbourne.

National League Head Coach, Daniel Hildreth said: “This is great for our club, to not only increase the number of coaches in our programme, but also the quality that we can offer our kids. It is really encouraging that a number of the coaches are returning to give back to a club they once played for. We anticipate more coaching development opportunities coming soon.”

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Battle of the Borough

January 2019 sees the launch of ‘The Battle of the Borough’ (BotB), a fortnightly mini basketball league for 7-10 year olds (Years 3-4 and new year 5s). 

Players are able to sign up as individuals or with friends, and will be placed in teams based on their schools geography. Teams will play 2-3, 4v4, cross court games each week on lowered hoops.

Upon joining the league players will receive a reversible jersey to be worn as kit, and will be placed into team by their schools geography. It’s then time to battle it out for the borough title.

“Playing opportunities are scarce for this age group, so we want to provide a fun & friendly environment for new players to learn the game”, said Karl Youngman. “I was inspired by SCE’s City League, and wanted to create a league with a similar concept for players in our ever growing U8s, U10s & schools programmes.”

The 2019 Spring Term will run on Sundays 20th January, 3rd & 17th February, 3rd, 17th & 31st March, 1pm-4pm at The Holy Trinity School.

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Storm Basketball Foundation Launches

The Storm Basketball Foundation will be our new community programme focused on growing participation from a younger age, in Crawley and the surrounding areas. 

The Foundation will deliver after-school clubs to the majority of the secondary schools in Crawley and will run a number of Breakfast clubs, curriculum time session, lunchtime clubs & after-school sessions at the local primary schools. 

Karl Youngman will take lead on the Foundation assisted by Jordan Richards, and will be delivering regular holiday camps, primary & secondary schools leagues/tournaments, community sessions & the ‘Battle of the Borough’; a new mini-basketball league aimed at 7-9-year-olds, putting the neighbourhoods of Crawley against each-other. 

“This is something that I’ve wanted to have running in Crawley for a long time, even back to the early days of Crawley Cagers. I’ve seen the massive impact that South Coast Elite has had on players in Brighton, and it’s inspired me, even more, to get something running here. I’ve got a lot of respect for Tom Ward, he’s done an amazing job with SCE. Tom’s given me a lot of guidance about how to run the foundation as effectively as possible,” said Karl. ​

He continued, “I’m glad to have Jordan onboard, and I think together we can make a real difference in the area. The ultimate goal is to get all schools regularly playing basketball, from as young as possible. The area has proved to be a hotspot for talent in the last 10 years, and we have only just scratched the surface. I’m excited to see what we can do next.”

Jordan said; “After working with a mix of players in Crawley last year, I’m incredibly excited to get started with the Foundation. The players from Crawley are incredibly hard working and bring a unique attitude to the sport. Last year I worked for SCE running schools sessions and being involved in camps, and I can’t wait to bring that experience into the Crawley area.”