Isle of Wight Basketball Club is a community-based organisation. We have mainly been based at Cowes over the past 25 years, using the facilities at Cowes Enterprise College and Cowes High School before that.
Many of us have benefitted from playing basketball whether for fun, to keep active or for the passion to play at a higher level. Some young islanders have been lucky enough to play in junior national league programmes and go on to play in senior sides, play at colleges and university teams. Some have even fortunate enough to go to play College Basketball in America, as well as representing the Island team at either local or International level (Island games).
Why this project
With help from Basketball England and their Project Swish programme we’ve decided to undertake this project.
#ProjectSwish – Basketball England https://projectswish.co.uk
The Covid pandemic has severely restricted the opportunities to play many sports, both outdoors and especially indoor-based sports. Our club was unable to train for over 15 months when restrictions were finally lifted and we were allowed to play again. This hiatus has highlighted the need for outdoor space and playing facilities. Currently there is only one basketball court with community access on the Isle of Wight. There are other courts within school grounds that are closed off for public use. Indoor courts run as part of leisure centres are at a premium due to the lack of accessibility at schools and therefore demand is high for all indoor-based sports.
Currently there are over 350 members with the potential for many more. This includes approximately 50-60 children who actively participate in our coaching sessions, and there is a base of 50 adults who participate in our adults scrimmages. There are more males than females and we hope this project will help to strengthen these numbers and increase the percentage of female participants.