Hoopsfix Podcast - British Basketball with Sam Neter – Details, episodes & analysis

In episode 115 of the Hoopsfix Podcast, we sit down with Pete Taylor (Chair) and Josh Merrington (GM) of the Milton Keynes Breakers basketball club.

Over the past seven years, Breakers have gone from 40 kids to over a 1000, while adding a Senior National League side that has got promoted every year and will be in Division 1 next season. 

Not only that, but they've built a large fan base - with over 400 travelling to the National Cup Finals in January - and a thriving business, set to turnover more than £500,000 this year.

Timestamps:

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
02:06 Introduction and Background
02:42 History of the Club
06:34 Impact of COVID-19
08:50 Expanding the Club and Community Support
11:15 Promoting the Club and Building Relationships
14:51 Developing Talent and Player Pathway
25:30 Retaining Players and Life After Basketball
32:43 Payment Structure and Off-Court Development
33:00 Club Budget and Financial Prudence
36:44 Generating Revenue and Managing Costs
41:30 Grant Funding and Sponsorship
46:30 Importance of Digital Presence
52:07 Future Growth and Expansion
57:05 Facility Development and Expansion
59:56 Potential for BBL and WBBL Franchise

For episode 115 of the Hoopsfix Podcast, we sit down with Sevenoaks Suns coach and owner Len Busch.

The Suns, one of the most successful WBBL franchises and at the forefront of youth female basketball development pulled out of the top-flight this off-season due to ‘untenable’ costs.

In this hour long episode we go in depth with Len on the behind the scenes running of the club, and why financially it did not make sense for the Suns to continue.

For Episode 106 of the Hoopsfix Podcast we sit down with Jon May and Tom Bennett from the Malvern Hoops campaign, who have recently transformed their local basketball courts.

The five year campaign came to an end in August, after the brand new courts at Victoria Park, in Malvern, Worcestershire, were officially opened.

Not purely aesthetic, the courts have been resurfaced with new hoops installed, completed with spring loaded rims and fibreglass backboards.

In this hour long podcast, we go into the backstory of the Malvern Hoops campaign, how they managed to pull it off and what others who are trying to do the same thing can learn from them.

Timecodes:

00:00 Introduction
2:56 Interview start
3:30 Jon May's background
08:35 Tom Bennett's background
08:45 What made them both decide to take action
13:30 Their first steps after being positively received by the council
14:20 How confident they were of being able to make it happen
18:43 Where to go to find out about land permissions
20:02 What is the role in the council responsible for basketball court renovations
20:56 What they were looking to do
24:55 The first budget they drew up and the costs they were looking at
26:50 What the breakdown of costs were for an estimated £90,000 budget
28:10 What makes the Malvern Hoops campaign different to a lot the other art court projects
28:57 How they were going to be able to raise the money
29:56 How long of a process it is working with councils
31:36 The process of trying to raise £5,000 themselves
36:55 Deciding to involve netball for a different part of the park to help gain more support
40:25 Ensuring you publicise your campaign and getting media coverage
42:36 Importance of being able to show a need/desire for the project from the community
45:14 Jon and Tom's top 10 tips for anyone trying to their own basketball court project
45:43 1) Check the Malvern Hoops website for more details
46:13 2) Don't expect it to be easy
47:41 3) Get your budget and financials in order
49:54 4) Use 2D/3D software to get a mockup of the court project done
51:35 5) Be a spokesperson & advocate for your project
53:28 6) Get as much help as possible
56:04 7) Include costs for security in the project
58:11 8) Consider the use of FlexCourt flooring
1:01:20 9) Consider putting other sports into the proposal
1:02:54 10) Focus on having a big launch

The show has been approved on iTunes – find it here and please subscribe to automatically receive new episodes straight to your phone/computer/tablet – if you could give us a review/rating it would be much appreciated to help the podcast spread far and wide, meanwhile it is also on Spotify here, Overcast, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts.

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