British Performance Basketball (British Basketball) has been in existence since December 2006; formed in response to the successful London 2012 Olympic bid in 2005 in Singapore. The organisation was created in order to manage the high performance/elite programme for the Great Britain men's and women's senior teams as well as the U20's squads. The objective was to see the senior teams through to Olympic qualification for London 2012, whilst ensuring that all teams were playing in their respective A Divisions en route. The organisation is focused on the elite end of the sport in Great Britain and aims to qualify GB teams for all major basketball championships including London 2012, future Olympic Games, World and European Championships.
The organisation has also put in place a Futures programme to support the work already done with the U20's and bridge the gap between this age group and the senior squads. It features heavily as part of Great Britain's ambitions to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympics and the resultant T16 (Towards 2016) programme to develop the right infrastructures and performance pathway to identify and nurture talented athletes through to senior representation.
British Basketball 'Game On' Strategy
British Basketball areas of focus:
Performance Timeline
2008
British Basketball take a great stride on the world basketball stage when the senior men's team, consisting of players with world-class pedigree such as Luol Deng and Pops Mensah-Bonsu, competed in the A Division of EuroBasket.
2009
GB securetheir place in the European Finals in Poland. In the same year, British Basketball also launched the 'Game On' high performance strategy with endorsement and approval from all the home nations. This strategy brought together the key stakeholders in the UK in developing a single coherent pathway to develop talented youngsters across Britain and to grow the game.
2010
Both the Standard Life GB teams qualified for their respective EuroBasket 2011 tournaments.
2011
The GB women went on to make history, in their first ever appearance at this tournament, as they reached the second round of the championship, the furthest any GB team has gone in the competition.
On 13 March 2011 in Lyon, France, FIBA's Secretary General, Patrick Baumann announced that both the men's and the women's teams could take up their host nation places in the London Olympic Games. It was a historic announcement which means that for the first time since 1948 there will be GB basketball teams at the Olympic Games.
