How to Build a Basketball Culture – With Jackson Gibbons – Ep. 42
For Episode 42 of the Hoopsfix Podcast, we sit down with Jackson Gibbons, the Director of Basketball at City of London Academy and Chairman of Southwark Pride.
A former player at Westminster Warriors and Brixton Topcats, Gibbons ended up in coaching, starting with the Westminster Warriors, where he had an undefeated season and won an Under-18 National title in 2010, before setting up the City of London Academy basketball programme – which is also a part of Southwark Pride programme – in 2012.
In what is a relatively short period of time, CoLA/Southwark has had a lot of success, winning a number of National titles (including the same group of girls winning the Under-18 Playoffs title, Under-18 Cup, WEABL, Division 1 Women Playoffs, and Women’s National Cup in 2017) and placing numerous players in the USA on scholarship.
Perhaps more impressive than the team and individual success the club has had, is the culture and community that has been built around the programme.
In this 1 hour and 40 minute episode, hear from Jackson on:
- How he first got into basketball, after his first love was football
- Aspiring to play in the BBL as a youngster and the players he looked up to
- His memories of the legendary Rough & Ready tournament
- Partnering with Nhamo Shire on the operations side of Midnight Madness
- Setting up the City of London Academy programme
- How he spoke to Barking Abbey to get a blueprint of a basketball academy
- How he has built a basketball culture within the school and club
- Working with a school and getting the school on side
- The differences between coaching boys and girls
- His philosophies and values on coaching and mentoring young people
- Building a network of coaches in the US
- Supporting players to get scholarships to the states
- The importance of players going to the right place when going to the US
- Some of the individual success stories of players that he has coached
- Why he feels kids need to start playing younger
- His hopes for the future
- And much, much more!
As always, I’d love to get your feedback, come back after you’ve listened and lets get some discussion going in the comments.
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