Hosted at Manchester’s National Basketball Performance Centre from the 12-15 August, 60 high-school-aged athletes will get a masterclass in all things basketball from the world’s best basketball minds, including 2011 NBA champion Tyson Chandler, five-time NBA champion Derek Fisher, two-time WNBA champion Sylvia Fowles, and Philadelphia 76ers head coach and two-time British Basketball League champion, and coach of the year Nick Nurse.
Amongst the 60 are five rising stars of British basketball - Emmanuel Ahamefule, Ike Davids, Obinna Ekufu, Bo Guttormsdottir-Frost and Athena Thompson - and British-Lithuanian Emilis Zibuda.
Since 2003, over 40 players from the United Kingdom have been invited to participate in the global event and work on their basketball craft.
The British alumni list is:
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Former London Elite Ahamefule is a powerhouse forward and has been a standout performer for GB and England junior squads.
Standing at 6’7”, Ahamefule has come up through the England Talent Pathway, notably winning the U15 Aspire All-Star National Tournament with the London Super Region in 2023 and helping England to the 2024 U16 Four Nations title in Ireland.
In the 2023/24 season, he was named BE’s College Basketball League U17 Player of the Year and represented Team Paris in the U18 Adidas Next Gen EuroLeague Finals.
This season, he was selected to play for the NBA Global Academy U20s team in the Australian U20 Championship, as well as suiting up for GB at this year’s FIBA U18 EuroBasket Division B tournament, where he averaged 14.7 points per game.
Ahamefule’s England and GB team-mate, Davids has had a similar ‘up through the ranks’ journey.
He was a runner-up with England at Globasket 2023, was part of the 2024 Four Nations title-winning England squad and played a big part in winning gold at the Jr. NBA Europe & Middle East Finals in Abu Dhabi the same year.
He played in both the U16 and U18 GB EuroBasket campaign teams, recently racking up a double-double in GB’s win over Iceland, and averaging 8.6 points per game.
The 6’10” resolute big man started his basketball journey at Nottingham Hoods before playing for Charnwood Academy Riders and subsequently committing to the NBA Global Academy U20s team for the 2024/25 season.
Barking Abbey’s Ekufu is an exciting talent, known for his ‘out of the gym’ dunks and athletic agility.
Like Ahamefule and Davids, the 6’5” forward enjoyed U16 success with England at the Four Nations and played in the GB U18 squad at this year’s EuroBasket, averaging 7.6 points per game.
In the 2024/25 EABL season, he was named South U17 Player of the Year and claimed the playoff title with Barking, racking up nine points, nine rebounds and six assists.
Earlier this year, Ekufu was also selected for Team Munich in the U18 Adidas Next Gen EuroLeague Finals, winning the Munich Qualifier to help his team through to the next round.
He has also been making the most of the off-season too, playing for Team Hoopspace in the Hoopsfix Pro-Am and suiting up for Team White in the Hoopsfix All-Star Classic, where he finished runner-up in the dunk contest.
Guttormsdottir-Frost has made an indelible impression on the British basketball scene, with her sharp shooting and mature leadership on the court.
Of British and Icelandic heritage, Guttormsdottir-Frost fell in love with basketball when she lived in Iceland, setting her on a journey that has already seen her play in the Icelandic Premier League, join Valencia Basket in Spain and play in the SLB Women’s for Oaklands Wolves.
This season, Guttormsdottir-Frost was part of the Wolves senior women’s team that defeated Sheffield Hatters in the SLB Cip Final to win their first piece of silverware and she helped the academy team finish fifth in the Women’s Elite Academy Basketball League.
The 6’3” guard has also been on international duty, representing GB U18s at the 2024 and 2025 EuroBasket tournaments, where, in the former, she was the 12th top scorer with 15 points per game – and helping the team finish sixth on both occasions.
Her excellence on the court got her noticed by the GB senior women’s team as well, selected by Anna Montañana to play in the 2025 FIBA Women’s EuroBasket Qualifiers.
She also represented Great Britain in 3x3 at the European Youth Olympics in Skopje this summer, where she was the flag bearer at the closing ceremony.
Highlighted by FIBA as ‘one of the best British prospects in some time’, Thompson is proving to be GB’s next generation talent and has already achieved so much in her emerging career.
In 2023, she was named Basketball England’s U16 National Player of the Year, and then a year later, she helped guide GB U16s to promotion from Division B of FIBA’s Women’s EuroBasket competition, securing third place, and leading the tournament in scoring with an average of 22.6 points-per-game, meaning she was named in the tournament’s All-Star Five.
This followed England success earlier in the year, with the shooting guard winning the 2024 Four Nations championship title, and domestically, getting it done for her old club Milton Keynes Breakers in the final of the U16 Junior Final Four competition – an MVP performance of 40 points, no less.
At this year’s FIBA U18 Women’s EuroBasket Division B tournament, she helped GB finish sixth, alongside teammate Guttormsdottir-Frost, and averaged 18.1 points per game.
Now based in the states, Thompson has been working on her game at the Putnam Science Academy in Connecticut and Blair Academy in New Jersey.
Dual British and Lithuanian national Zibuda has also been invited to BWB.
Zibuda grew up in England, spending over a decade with London Stars Basketball Club (formerly Baltic Stars) and being shaped as a player by the England Talent Pathway.
Way back in the 2021/22 season at the Jnr. NBL Final Fours, Zibuda receivied an honourable mention for his 29 points performance to help the London Stars to a third-place finish in the U14s category.
That same season, he helped his school, St Bonaventure, to the Dynamik National Schools title with an MVP performance of 30 points, six rebounds, eight assists and four steals. A year later, he took the U16 schools title as well, this time with Ormiston Park Academy, beating Barking Abbey with another MVP award, scoring an incredible 46 points.
For England he was a runner-up with the U15 junior national squad at Globasket 2023, toured with the team in Serbia and won gold with England at the first Jr. NBA Europe & Middle East Finals in Abu Dhabi.
He now plays for the Lithuania national team, selected for the 2024 FIBA U16 EuroBasket competition, where he averaged 11.9 points per game.
He is currently playing for Veritas Academy in the US.
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