Chesterfield Basketball Club - a new venture for sport in the town
When it comes to the most popular sports in the UK, basketball isn’t necessarily one many would consider being amongst them.
That’s despite basketball hoops frequently being as ubiquitous as goal posts in sporting facilities, schools and indeed gardens across the country, with the tendency for people to often file it under ‘American sports’ meaning it can come as something of a surprise to learn it beats both cricket and rugby when it comes to participant numbers in England.
And now, Chesterfield has a basketball club of its own.
Perhaps unsurprisingly being called Chesterfield Basketball Club, it’s the brainchild of coach and owner Jordan Turner, a huge fan of the sport and season ticket holder at Sheffield Sharks.
The club’s formation was borne out of a combination of Turner’s love for the sport and a frustration at there being a relative lack of basketball options for both youngsters and adults wanting to play in the local area, the intention to create a hub for both male and female players and eventually competitive teams across the age groups.
"Chesterfield and the surrounding has had basketball clubs before but such are the costs of hall hire and numerous other factors, it’s hard to sustain and people tend to have to go to places like Sheffield, Mansfield or Worksop to have a chance of playing regularly,” said Turner.
"The Encon Derbyshire Arrows play their games at Dronfield but in terms of teams that train and play in Chesterfield itself, there aren’t really any options, which is something a few people have said to me as I’ve been setting the new club up.”
Turner is an experienced sports coach with a diploma in sports science and a degree in Sports therapy.
It means that for the time being, he is taking on all coaching duties by himself. Twice-weekly sessions recently got under way on a Wednesday evening at the Outwood Academy in Newbold (8.30pm-10pm) for those aged 16 and above, with Saturday morning sessions for those aged 8-15 starting at Tupton Hall School on July 5 from 9.30am to 10.30am.
He said: “That’s how things need to be at the moment but the hope is, should we get plenty of interest and players of all ages taking part, I can delegate more sessions to other coaches and hopefully increase the number of sessions too.
"At the moment, and for the first 12 months, it will all be about growth. There will inevitably be weeks where we have more numbers and some where people can’t attend for whatever reason, but we want to be in a position where we have a core set of regulars there every week that we can rely on and gain a strong membership.”
Once those initial aims are achieved, Turner then hopes to be in a position where competitive matches can start. Which players play in them might be dictated by which of the age groups are best represented, but in the meantime he hopes to be able to arrange friendly games against local sides to gain valuable experience across the board.
He added: “Whilst the players we have will dictate what teams we can build, we won’t neglect anyone nor solely focus on the teams playing games.”
With ambition such as Turner’s, also comes great cost. The club’s formation has been hugely assisted by a Sport England grant, which in the first instance has enabled Turner to book out their training venues until the end of the year.
He said: “The application process wasn’t too hard as the main thing was providing a justification for what the grant was needed for. I can name at least ten football clubs within a three-mile radius but when it comes to basketball it’s very different, so once we’d also clarified where the money would go, they were happy to give us the grant.
"The training venues alone are costing us £2,500, so that shows how much is needed even before any equipment, kits and so on are taken into account and why we then hope to get good membership numbers to help starting to recoup that cost.
"We’re not wanting to make any profit – any surplus will go back into the club – but we also don’t want to lose money and for it then to become unsustainable
“Sponsorship will hopefully play a part before too long, with branding and logos are going on our kits, which in turn will help top us up and keep the venues going.
"This is a big enough town to have a thriving team, it’s just about getting the initial interest and spark and taking it from there.”
More information on the club can be found via its website at www.chesterfieldbasketballclub.co.uk, as well as on social media via its Facebook page and on Instagram at @chesterfieldbasketballclub_uk.
Jordan can also be contacted by e-mail at [email protected], or by phone on 07908 088137.