Luol Deng Backs England Basketball Survey to Discover Basketball Playing Habits

By Sam Neter on March 24, 2014

In the first major initiative under new CEO, Huw Morgan, England Basketball have partnered with Luol Deng to launch a survey in order to better understand the basketball community in England.

The survey, hosted online at youarebasketball.co.uk, looks into playing habits and motivations, and incentivises people to participate by offering the chance to win an all-expenses paid trip to the USA to meet Luol and see him in action during the 2014-15 NBA season.

“It’s vital that we get closer to those that play the game, wherever that might be, and continue to nurture the next generation of stars” said Huw Morgan, England Basketball’s Chief Executive.

“That’s why we’re using social media to take a more connected approach to listening to players of all ages in order to understand how we can make basketball more accessible to everyone.”

The National Governing Body will examine the results and cross reference with other evidence they have obtained about basketball habits and determine tailored strategies to help grow basketball.

Despite data showing that 70% of the UK’s basketball players being 25 and under, over 50% being made up of black and ethnic minorities and it being the second largest team sport in England and Wales, England Basketball admits they do not know enough about players, in large part because so much basketball takes place out of a structured club format.

“The sport of basketball is a pathway, a pathway that teaches so many valuable lessons on and off the court” said Deng, “it’s a sport that kids everywhere can relate to, and one that should be easily accessible when all you need is some concrete, two hoops and a ball!”

The main challenge England Basketball is hoping to overcome is preventing the large drop off in participation numbers after players leave school.

They are working with a number of specialists and agencies on the projected, including Sport England’s Insight Team, after having their funding re-routed through independent agencies earlier in the year.

However, early signs of uptake on the survey do not seem positive. Despite efforts to “connect through social media” the ‘#YouAreBasketball’ hashtag has been used just 124 times since the survey’s launch, two weeks ago on March 9th, and the vast majority of those are from outlets promoting the survey, not kids filling it out.

A quick analysis of its use on Twitter shows a sharp drop off, with mentions falling to 0 over the last few days.

The survey is long winded, and provides an incredibly poor user experience, inevitably leading to drop out before completion for a target audience with ever-dwindling attention spans.

Image Credit: Mansoor Ahmed/Mansoor Ahmed Photography

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