British Basketball

Initially tasked with the objective of steering the Great Britain men's and women's basketball teams through to the London 2012 Olympic Games, British Basketball in its modern form has been in existence since December 2006. Previously, with a FIBA relaxation of participating rules, senior Great Britain teams were only able to compete in Olympic Gam... es years by preparing and competing in Pre-Olympic Qualifying tournaments in Europe and sometimes also in the Host Country. However, with FIBA's decision to discontinue the promotion of Pre-Olympic Qualifying tournaments after 1992, no Great Britain teams were operated until a new FIBA 'relaxation' in early 2006 which enabled senior and under 20 teams to participate in the various European Championships for the first time. Under the 'old code', some 35 women played in the GB teams of (1976, 80, 84, 88) while some 115 men played in the GB teams (1948, 60, 64, 68, 72, 76, 80, 84, 88, 92). The recent journey since 2006 produced achievements right from the beginning, when the senior men's team was promoted from its starting point in the then Division B, up to Division A. By utilising players with world-class pedigree such as Luol Deng and Pops Mensah-Bonsu, the team punched a ticket for a historic first trip to the Final Round of EuroBasket (European Championship) in 2009. British Basketball also launched its first high performance strategy to create a single coherent pathway to develop talented youngsters in England, Scotland and Wales, and to grow the game in Britain. In 2010, the senior men once again booked their spot at the EuroBasket Final Round and there was a double cause for celebration, as the senior women's team grabbed their own slice of history when they qualified for the Final Round of EuroBasket Women. A year later, the women stepped out in Poland and made a run to the second phase of the competition. The big flag wavers in 2011 were the U20 Women who not only gained a gold medal in 2010 by winning Division B to qualify for the European Championship ...Read More