Creating Young 3X3 Leaders

Background We applied for this project to address the needs identified in Basketball England's 2018 Strategic Plan, specifically in relation to GROWING PARTICIPATION by inspiring the mass engagement of Young People in playing and coaching basketball in schools and clubs. Basketball (like all sports) faces a significant challenge in retaining and growing participation due to the changing priorities of young people who want the ability and freedom to fit the sport to their own lifestyle, rather than be bound to rigid, regular schedules. We therefore recognised the need to restructure our approach to youth participation to give young people the opportunity to remain involved in the sport in a more open, less committed way. We sought to address these challenges via this project using the relatively new 3x3 form of the game, which is played by two teams of three using just one basketball hoop. There is extensive academic research which evidences strong positive impacts on young people who undertake urban Sport Development programmes such as 3x3 basketball. The research shows that young people experience “a space where they can be themselves, feel at home, gain respect...and are temporarily freed from daily struggles such as discrimination". Objectives The core objective for this project was to provide young people with the skills and experience to become social entrepreneurs and role models by empowering and equipping them to share their passion with their peers and have a direct impact on youth participation in urban communities. The project aimed capitalise on the interest in 3x3 basketball at both a community and national strategic level to deliver the following core objectives: 1) Use the power of basketball, and specifically 3x3, to promote and embed the theories and practices of social entrepreneurship within a group of young people from urban areas in the UK and Netherlands. 2) Deliver youth-led 3x3 initiatives in the UK and Netherlands, evidencing direct youth participation impacts on 400+ young people in key urban areas. 3) Use the learnings identified to create a set of resources for use by new 3x3 programmes across Europe, which draw on European-wide best practice to deliver the highest possible social impacts on young people in urban areas. Implementation The core project activities were delivered via 2 x long-term mobility periods (of 2 months each) in the UK and Netherlands designed to embed best practice and learnings in participants through involvement in the real-life execution of an international 3x3 event. In summary, activities included: INTERNATIONAL EVENT YOUTH WORK: activities were focussed around participants' involvement in the delivery of The Urban Sports Week (Netherlands) and the Birmingham Commonwealth Games (UK). Via these events, participants acquired real-life skills and experience that will be invaluable to their future development. LEGACY PROGRAMMES AND EVENTS: participants worked together to create and deliver an innovative event during the 2-month mobility period targeted at engaging young people in Birmingham and Amsterdam, providing the opportunity for participants to use all of the learnings acquired during the project. SKILL DAYS: participants were provided with with access to skills-focussed workshops that allowed them to further develop competences in areas such as marketing and community building. 3x3 PROGRAMME DEVELOPMENT: participants were tasked with developing 3x3 initiatives in their own communities in the UK/Netherlands. Achievements The results flowing from the delivery of the above project objectives included: 1) PROMOTION OF SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP: The project has engaged directly with 12 young people aged 16-19, from urban areas within the UK and Netherlands partner countries, in targeted social entrepreneurship activities. Participants have gained FIBA-recognised leadership qualifications, enhancing critical thinking and media literacy, providing genuine role models for other young people to aspire to and thereby increasing social inclusion of other young people in urban communities. 2) DELIVERY OF NEW YOUTH-LED 3x3 PROGRAMMES: The project has supported the capacity-building of BE and provided community programmes with effective methods of reaching out to inactive young people, particularly those with fewer opportunities, via 3x3 basketball. These programmes have directly impacted BE's aim of growing youth participation in the sport. 3) CREATION OF ACCESSIBLE BEST PRACTICE RESOURCES: The project has created a range of resources that our programmes across England can use to build on the best practice acquired to enhance participation and engagement in their own communities.