Basketball Wales Announce Decision to Join British Basketball Project - Hoopsfix.com

Basketball Wales Announce Decision to Join British Basketball Project

Basketball Wales have announced today that they have agreed to sign up to the British Basketball Project having initially refused to commit to joining Great Britain programme from 2016 onwards.

The Board of Basketball Wales unanimously voted to unite with England and Scotland back in June, in an effort to secure the ‘long-term future’ of the sport in Wales, and that decision has now been announced. They previously felt that the agreement would not necessarily help benefit Wales back in 2012 but believe their issues have been sorted.

In a statement to members, Chairman of Basketball Wales Justin Ogleby added that he felt the agreement is a ‘unique opportunity to increase participation, realise achievement and for each individual to excel’.

FIBA had already made it clear to the home nations that they would have their memberships suspended if they did not sign up because from 2016 onwards they would not be recognised as seperate federations.

Here are some of the benefits Basketball Wales have listed as part of their decision made:

Our signing up to the British Basketball Project will lead to potential for greater investment in to grass routes projects that will give better opportunities for you and future members to take part in the game. The governance of the sport in Wales will remain in the hands of Basketball Wales at all levels including the National teams. You as a member will feel the benefit of our collaboration from joint projects to improve standards of competition, coaching and officiating across Wales. The changes will be mainly to how our national teams operate and to our membership of FIBA. Through our partnership with the other members of the British Basketball Federation, there will be greater opportunities for the sport to benefit from the commercial opportunities that British Basketball brings. It also expands the potential for our top players, coaches and officials to perform at the highest levels of the sport. Opportunities will be created for Wales to compete once a new competition structure has been introduced by FIBA in 2017.

A new bi-annual ‘Kingdom Cup’ will replace the current European Championships Division C after 2016 with Wales, England, Scotland and GB Futures all taking part. There is also the hope that more opportunities will become available for Wales once the new structure of FIBA competitions is introduced in 2017.

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