Basketball

Succeed both on and off the court with our England approved Basketball Academy.

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Storm’s Basketball Academy is a Basketball England approved academy in Essex. We offer you the opportunity to receive proven basketball training and outstanding academic instruction and are intent on seeing you achieve success both on and off the court.

Our Basketball Academy is headed by GB Senior Men's Team Manager and University of Essex Associate Head Coach Ross Norfolk. The Academy also boasts international support staff. Our Strength and Conditioning Coach, Mark Williams, is the GB Senior Men's S&C Coach and Southend United FC Lead S&C Coach.

The Storm first team compete in the Academy Basketball League and our second team compete in the AoC Sport League. The ABL is an invitation-only competition that comprises of 21 teams, split into two conferences.

Why be part of our Basketball Academy?

  • Diploma in Sporting Excellence (DiSE)
  • Access to at least 13 hours of practice time per week
  • Compete in regional and national competitions including the Elite Academy Basketball League (EABL)
  • Benefit from the knowledge and expertise of our experienced coaching team
  • Access to individual training sessions and positional clinics
  • Access to video analysis sessions
  • Advice and monitoring of nutritional requirements
  • Two supervised strength and conditioning sessions each week
  • A full college mid-week game program at Elite College level, ensuring one game per week on average
  • Academic support.

If you are already part of a club National League programme, you’ll return to your club for games at the weekend.

Sign up here to hear the latest news from our sports teams, including upcoming trial dates.


What to expect

  • Study either a Professional course (BTECs) or A-Levels
  • Two team practices a week
  • Four hours of individual workouts
  • Four hours of Strength & Conditioning
  • Physiotherapy support
  • Lifestyle advisor.

Your progression

We aim to inspire you to excel academically while also preparing you for a career as a professional basketball player. Currently, most young players move abroad to achieve this. However, we hope that in the long term English basketball will mature sufficiently to allow players to remain in the UK and fulfil their basketball aspirations here.