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19 November 2025  2 min read

Basketball England launches Community Coaches Award

The award is designed for individuals who want to lead safe, fun and inclusive basketball sessions, whether in community programmes or within clubs running short term or individual sessions.

It features a combination of e-learning, virtual classroom and face-to-face delivery, providing learners with the confidence and practical skills to coach effectively.

Delivered by BE partners Sport Structures, the Community Coach Award sits alongside the existing Club Coach Award at Level 2, offering a flexible pathway for coaches working outside the traditional club network or in more informal environments. It has been mapped to the CIMSPA Coach Standard.

Among the first to qualify from Community Coaches Award course are the cohorts of coaches trained by the London Coaches Program and its recently launched sister initiative in Manchester, run in partnership between Basketball England, the NBA, the London Mayor’s Office and Manchester City Council.

The Community Coaches Award will help individuals:

• Develop individual basketball fundamentals
• Understand basic team strategies
• Use different formats of the game
• Take ownership of your responsibilities as a coach
• Create safe and positive environments
• Plan, deliver and reflect on sessions to improve your coaching practice
• Coach inclusively

It is aimed at:

• Coaches delivering short-term or individual sessions in a club environment
• Community coaches working in local programmes
• Teachers delivering basketball in schools
• Multi-sport coaches including basketball in their offer
• Youth workers or activity leaders engaging young people
• Volunteers supporting grassroots initiatives
• New coaches seeking confidence and skills
• Students developing coaching skills as part of their studies

Brian Aldred, Basketball England Coaching Delivery Manager, said:

“The Community Coaches Award has been specially developed for those that want to deliver basketball coaching in a range of environments.

“We see it as a fantastic way to broaden our approach to meeting our strategic objective of providing more and better coaches and working in a range of environments to deliver that goal.”

Kath Percival, Sport Structures CEO, said:

“We are excited to deliver this new course. It equips coaches with the knowledge and skills to operate confidently and deliver in a range of environments such as community, in curriculum and out of curriculum, further and higher education and leisure.” 

Find out more and sign up Here