EABL Signifies New Beginning for U19 Competition
Five months ago, following the Under-19 Premier Final Fours competition in Stoke on Trent, an interesting dialogue opened up between myself and England Basketball’s Schools/Colleges and AASE Manager, Charlie Ford.
About to publish the recap of the event, I dropped Charlie a line just to forewarn him that I had been somewhat critical of the league/event in it – at the time I wrote:
“The U19 Premier league is the top junior competition in the country; has a real chance to be made into an attractive league for spectators and sponsors…but needs a lot of work. Putting a marquee event in the middle of nowhere in Stoke, during exams, in a venue that was just terrible, and then having write-ups like this to reward the participants, is far from ideal.”
Charlie came to me and said he wants this league to be the best that it can be, and asked for any feedback and suggestions I could give him to improve it. What followed was an essay of an email, with a numbered list of no less than 16 items I felt were areas that should be focused on to help the league reach its true potential.
The first stage of the result of these conversations was launched last week (massive thank you to all the coaches, players and anyone else I’ve spoken to about it in the past few weeks, particularly the aforementioned Charlie Ford, as well as Nick Drane and Jesse Sazant) – a full rebrand of the competition, which will now be known as the EABL (Elite Academy Basketball League), as well as a dedicated website (eabl.org), logo, social media profiles and accompanying marketing strategy.
It is perhaps the most exciting (and challenging) project I’ve worked on to date, one which I think has the potential to be a game changer. Early signs have been encouraging, but if all teams, players and fans, fully buy in and get behind this, I think it could be an incredible case study.
Below is the official release from England Basketball, have a read and let me know what you think in the comments – always open to constructive feedback. We’ll see where we are at come the end of the season!
The U19 Men’s Premier Schools Competition has been rebranded for the 2013/14 School/College basketball season to the Elite Academy Basketball League (EABL).
Enlisting the help of Hoopsfix.com founder Sam Neter and AASE coaches Nick Drane & Jesse Sazant, England Basketball and British Colleges Sport have taken the opportunity to spotlight the top junior league and players in the country with a full rebrand and accompanying marketing strategy.
The EABL has its own dedicated logo and a website, www.eabl.org, which will include team rosters, fixtures, video, stats, and news, as well as publish regular features on players, coaches and programmes.
“I haven’t been as excited about a British basketball project for a long time,” said Sam Neter (Founder of Hoopsfix.com). “For me, this has the potential to be a long term game-changer for the sport. Providing we get the buy in from teams, I honestly believe this can set the standard moving forward – that is the goal.”
England Basketball, in partnership with British Colleges Sport, introduced the U19 competition three years ago to ensure that AASE students have access to high level competition on a weekly basis. Not only does it support players’ athletic development but also provides numerous opportunities for the coaches and NVQ staff to gather evidence for the completion of the level 3 NVQ that AASE encompasses.
In its three years of existence, the league has honed the development of a number of England and GB internationals, players who have gone on to receive scholarships domestically and abroad, and will ultimately end up playing professionally.
“I am really excited by potential of the EABL and the work that has gone into the re-branding of the league,” added Nick Drane (Copleston High School AASE Head Coach). “The standard of basketball in this league is unquestionably the highest level of junior basketball in the country and the players involved deserve the type of profile and exposure that this re-brand will give it”
The EABL currently comprises of 32 teams including all 17 AASE institutions and carefully selected basketball academy programmes that have a history of high performance within School/College competitions.
You can follow the EABL at www.eabl.org, on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/officialeabl, Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/officialeabl and YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/officialeabl.
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