The NBA is heading to London on Sunday when the Orlando Magic play against the Memphis Grizzlies. But what impact may this have on basketball in Dorset?
Bournemouth Oaks are a basketball club who were founded 7 years ago by current head coach Tomas Skiotys with a few friends in order to serve the local basketball community in Bournemouth.
On this, Skiotys said: “I started it as a community project with friends and we slowly started building the club up. Now we have an academy which has been running for the last three years.”
In recent years, basketball in Dorset has seen a massive uptake with Bournemouth Oaks growing massively as a club and improve its numbers.
Regarding this growth, Skiotys said: “Our academy winning the under 12s championships in the first year was the highlight for me as club owner. We now have 150 kids playing since the last three years of us running the academy which is a massive increase.”
He added: “I have seen a massive uptake in basketball involvement in Dorset over recent years thanks to the widespread coverage of basketball globally from the NBA.”
Number of players and players dropping off during the season is also a large issue as Skiotys said: “It starts with twenty players in the summer and in November you’ve got only seven players in the squad.”
The Oaks also have upped their training quantity recently, upping the amount to five times a week this year and on this, he said: “We’ve picked up 20 to 30 people due to the fact that we are one of the only teams in the local area offering this much training in a week. It’s a big selling point for players joining the club.”
Dan Middleton is also a player for the Bournemouth Oaks whose son is also active in the local basketball scene playing for the Solent Kestrels.
He says: “If Dorset can contribute that much to basketball in the local area, then I am hopeful for the future of basketball in the UK.”
Notable events pushing local basketball in Dorset include the Bridport 3 x 3 tournament which occurs in the summer every year in Bridport with each year around 20 local teams taking part with 100 players overall.
On this event, Middleton said: “There’s hundreds of people, there’s a great atmosphere every time.
Middleton started watching basketball in the eighties with Michael Jordan as a big inspiration for him to watch the game.
Following on from this hype of the game, Middleton noted that Basketball England failed to capitalise on this hype.
The Orlando Magic will tip off at 5 o’clock in the afternoon local time in London at the 02 Arena against the Memphis Grizzlies.
With this, hopes remain that basketball will continue its rise within the entire UK especially Dorset.
Bournemouth Oaks offer sessions for all ages on their website for those interested (https://oaksbasketball.co.uk/academy/).
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