Salford Basketball Club aim to grow their club as a new outlet for aspiring athletes and rise through the ranks of competing leagues.
The club began to rebuild during lockdown, when a few previous generations of basketball players all agreed that in the city of Salford, there was not a great level of basketball.
It led to the creation of Salford Basketball Club, which followed on from the folding of the previous Salford Vikings. They had multiple youth teams before a funding struggle and players ageing out of available leagues.
The new look of the club represents landmarks of Salford, including Salford Quays and the Millennium bridge in the club badge, alongside wearing red and black to coincide with the other major sport teams around Salford.
The revamped club set goals when creating a high level of basketball which no other Salford team has reached before, eventually growing to National League status.
The secretary of the club, Callum O’Neill, said: “Our aim this season is to progress into the playoffs again and aim for promotion into the organisations top league and then next year enter a men’s team into the National League.
“One big ambition this year is for us to start up our youth team. We currently have around 30 kids from 7-14 awaiting sessions to train and compete for a place on our team.”
Their first season started in 2022, by participating in a local league based in Stockport. The team went the entire season unbeaten, which was an incredible achievement and motivated them to strive for more success.
Despite only playing one season in a local league, the club made the huge step of moving up to the Manchester Area Basketball League in their second season.
The big step up in leagues was an eye-opener for the club, as the level of competition majorly increased, with clubs who have now been established for decades.
Despite this increased challenge, the club finished fourth and reached the semi-final of the play-offs, resulting in a promotion to the championship division.
In this current season, the club has increased their standard of players, leading the coaches to work to find a solution and ultimately achieving their goal of winning the league.
They currently sit fourth in the league with games in hand and are growing into the season as they gave top of the league a highly contested affair with around 20 lead changes.
Their recent game against The North West Anabbs went to overtime. The game ended 60-60 in regulation, and Salford Basketball Club went on to win 77-68.
The team are awaiting sports grants and sponsorships to come through, to help cover training fees and court hire.
More information on Salford Basketball Club can be found on their website here.
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