The Milton Keynes Basketball Foundation used their Together Fund investment to subsidise monthly membership fees to allow more boys and girls to participate both free of charge or at a subsidised rates, according to their need.

We asked Peter Taylor, Chairman of Milton Keynes Basketball Foundation, about their community and elite basketball programmes.

How did you help young people become more active through the funding?

• We ran a Golden Ticket programme throughout Milton Keynes schools to encourage more youngsters to participate in our community programmes free of charge.
• We identified a number of members who had cancelled their memberships due to financial hardships and paid for them to rejoin our club. For example, a single mother lost her job as a care worker and withdrew her son. We offered the opportunity for her son to rejoin until the end of the season.
• Through the junior National Basketball Association school programme, we identified a number of talented youngsters who we offered the opportunity to participate in our Junior National League at no cost.

Who did you engage in basketball?

We reached 85 young people who we may not have reached before. For example girls, young people from low income families and young people from underrepresented minority backgrounds.

Can you tell us about any successes?

We were able to financially support a talented 18 year old boy on our Junior National League team. This led to him progressing to be part of our Men’s Senior team and he has now attracted interest from schools both in the USA and Canada with a view to a full scholarship award.

Anything else you’d like to add?

The Sport England Together Fund allowed us to offer more children the opportunity to participate throughout our 6 basketball centres and in every age group. It also allowed some of the more talented players participate in our Junior National League Programme. This in turn benefited their personal development and confidence.