Barking Abbey a British success story

VALENCIA (Jeff Taylor's Eurovision) - Basketball in Great Britain may not be getting the fanfare that it did in the buildup to the London Olympics.

The country doesn't have a league with teams that also compete in European club competitions, and the men's national side has not qualified for next year's EuroBasket.

There have been funding issues that caused headaches.

But you know what? There are good things happening in basketball in the country, including in the extremely important aspect of player development.

There is a launchpad for success in the sport that exists in the east London borough of Barking and Dagenham.

Established in 2005, the Barking Abbey Academy has moved from strength to strength each year and attracted players not only from all over the United Kingdom but also from abroad.

This is something to be excited about.

How did it all begin? 

The academy's director, Mark Clark, remembers over a decade ago looking at the possibilities for his son, Great Britain Olympian Dan Clark, to play basketball. 

He found nothing in place in London or the United Kingdom that was comparable to Europe for serious basketball players.

Dan ended up moving to Madrid and joining the junior program of the famous basketball institution, Estudiantes.

Estu are in Spain's top league.

"In Europe, the kids were on the court from 14 (years of age) six, seven, 10, 12, 14, 16 hours," Clark told me. "Our kids were on the floor four hours. 

"At Barking, their director of sport, Phil Rider, saw that basketball was big in London and felt that there was no opportunity so, by chance and through a couple of conversations, he and I talked and with the significant support of the head teacher Mark Lloyd wanting the kids to achieve something, and actually create an opportunity for them, the school wanted to set this thing up."

What happened was that, once the academy was set up, Clark and Barking Abbey School went full steam ahead.

They pushed hard and worked hard at immediately turning Barking into a place where youngsters knew they were going to be able to practice, and to do so under good coaches.

While Barking initially had in mind attracting players just from London, Clark envisioned it being "on the European level" in all respects. 

Not only is Barking Abbey at a European level in terms of having a gym and getting players on the court a lot during the week, but it also opens its doors to Europeans.

There have been, for example, Bulgarians and Lithuanians to enroll at Barking and play basketball there.

How difficult is it to get a place at the academy?

The kids have to show the potential on the court, and be smart enough in the classroom.

"The players that want to come here have to meet academic requirements," Clark said. "The school is academic, but those requirements aren’t out of the ordinary. It’s not like you won't get in unless you are an A-star student or something crazy like that. 

"We do have an application process but with both the boys and girls, we actively recruit."

In its formative stages, Barking got a big helping hand from England Basketball, which had former Bulgaria international player Radmila Turner among its employees. Turner has always been outspoken about the need for Britain to develop players.

"Between 2007 and 2009, we just grew and grew and then GB said they wanted to have institutes and we were going to be the first," Clark said.

This is an idea that never got off the ground.

"We went through a whole 18-month process of coming up with the right approach and the right standards of Great Britain but since 2009, they haven't extended that program at all," Clark said. "It's one of those issues about the legacy of the initial funding for Great Britain."

So what about the finances? 

"Great Britain Basketball didn't fund us to any excessive level at all, they provided an additional eight percent in addition to the budget provided through the school which was targeted at player support services," Clark said. 

"All the funding was through the school's decision to do it and through work that we do to attract other interests. We're just about about to generate that conversation again with Basketball England, hopefully into a Great Britain wide program again."

Barking's women's team plays in the top league in the country, the WBBL.

The men's program works with the Kent Crusaders in the EB1, which is just one notch below the British Basketball League, and a team called Barking Abbey in the EB3.

"If they're good enough - we've got a 15-year-old playing in EB3 this year," Clark said. "If they are physically able, talented enough - they can play EB3 or EBL1."

One of the highlights in the Barking Abbey Basketball Academy history happened before they had teams in the national leagues in 2010, when they hosted the London Nike International Tournament.

"We staged one of the Euroleague junior groups and in that tournament, our kids were on the floor with Maccabi Tel Aviv, they were on the floor with Khimki, Union Olimpija," Clark said. 

"The guys went to the semi-final in that tournament and they beat Khimki. Hosting that tournament was a great moment. That meant we had a profile all of us a sudden." This team included Teddy Okereafor (currently at Rider University in USA) and Jesse Chuku currently at Le High University.

There were a lot of good players, including a young Slovenian sharpshooter named Klemen Prepelic.

Prepelic now plays for Slovenia's senior team and competed at the FIBA Basketball World Cup this summer, including against the United States.

The aim of Barking is to help players develop because in doing so, it's going to provide them with more opportunities. Current students Josh Steel and Savanah Wlikinson are leading players on current age group national teams and are attracting major interest from schools in the USA, including Kentucky and Davidson.

They may secure scholarships to universities in America. Fifty students who have been through the program have gained spots at all levels of NCAA basketball. Shaquilla Joeseph is currently studying at Ole Miss. The players could join club sides in Britain or Europe.

Clark, by the way, also has a daughter, Ella, who attended Barking Abbey from 2008 to 2010 and now plays for British women's team.

She will be at the EuroBasket Women, trying to help the side qualify for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Barking Abbey as a whole can feel good about doing something positive for basketball, for London and for teenagers.

While more investment can always help the academy, Barking Abbey is already a model for how to do things the right way, to create opportunities.

Jeff Taylor

FIBA

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