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John Amaechi Proposes Solutions After Lamenting State of Game

By on August 8, 2016

British basketball legend John Amaechi has posted a tweetstorm providing his solutions to overhaul the sport moving forward, after lamenting the state of basketball across the UK.

Amaechi, who is holding a charity camp at The Regal this week with Greenhouse Sports, took to twitter to air his views early Monday morning, following the release of Hoopsfix’s ‘What Happened to the Olympic Basketball Legacy‘ video over the weekend.

Listing off the six main reasons British basketball is struggling, he included, “insurgent, fractured, publicly-funded, power-grabbing cottage industries posing as ‘pathways'”, a weak professional league, public funding models, leadership of the sport, poor coaching and a talented but misguided participant base.

The England Commonwealth Games bronze medalist and 8 year pro followed with a number of ways he would begin to rebuild basketball, beginning with preparing for “radical change”. Amaechi has been a vocal critic of British basketball in the past, with many fans criticising him for using his large platform to be negative about the sport.

However, Amaechi regularly reminds his followers he has no vested interest in the game other than to want to see it succeed, concluding his tirade with “when comparing my comments to rebuttals; please compare who has best interest of young people in mind & who has business interests in mind.”

Now a performance psychologist and consultant, Amaechi would like to see similar business principles applied to basketball, calling for mandatory continuous professional development, transparency within National Governing Body (NGB) affiliated entities, accountability, a new truly independent political lobby, a DCMS-reporting commissioner, and more central control.

British Basketball responded to Amaechi’s comments (which are viewable in full below) with the following statement:

“The incoming British Basketball Federation has taken the time to seek John’s views along with a range of other voices within the game, as it prepares to become the lead governing body for basketball from October. Chairman Nick Humby met with John earlier this year.

“From the outset, we have been open with all concerned as we try to build a stronger game in this country. Given John’s obvious expertise, we will not – and would not – dismiss anything he has to say.

“There has been some progress, but not enough in the last four years and we are determined to do whatever it takes to provide basketball the status it deserves in this country. This can only be achieved, if the game comes together and unites in that common purpose.”

Read the full tweetstorm below:

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