Where did it all begin?

 

Twilight Basketball started back in May 2004 in the East End of Glasgow. Bosco Juniors, in Easthall (Easterhouse), was the very first venue and kick-started the first of 24 Twilight Basketball Programmes.

The Bosco Juniors programme didn’t start too well though, with only 2 young people attending on the first night.  It soon picked up and at the end of the 12 week block, a total of 67 young people registered. This was an important experience for Scottish Sports Futures as we learned how to improve on our networking and partnership working.

The first person to walk through the door at Bosco Juniors (James McCormick) still attends our TBB programme in Wellhouse.

 

Over the past 4 years Twilight Basketball has grown from just 4 programmes in our first year to implementing a nationwide programme, operating a mini league, producing a total of 23 qualified coaches, providing young people with the opportunity to play basketball for free, and more importantly, offering young people education input through our sessions in the form of educational time outs.

Our link to the Scottish Rocks has provided many of our participants with the opportunity to meet the pro players, but also to play on the old Rocks court at Braehead Arena. Some of the older TBB participants will remember such players as:

 

  • Lamont MacIntosh
  • Adrian Henning
  • Tony Windless
  • Jean Francois
  • Frank Bennett
  • Germaine Forbes

 

These players and many more have all had an input at TBB sessions, informing young people about how they achieved the goal of playing pro basketball but also on making the right choices in life.

Some of the young people who have participated in TBB and graduated to new things are:

 

Ross Mathison (Easterhouse TBB) – Now playing College Basketball at Carthage University in Wisconsin, USA.

Stefan Caldwell (Govan High TBB) – Now the lead coach at Drumchapel TBB

Paul Wilson (Govan High TBB) – Now working with Thales

Jack Irvine (Bellahouston TBB) – At University of Aberdeen studying Architecture and working for Scottish Sports Futures coaching in Primary Schools with Jump 2 it.

 

As we move forward with our TBB programme, we take it north to Aberdeen, Inverness, Dundee and Stirling. East, to Edinburgh and here in Glasgow. But, I won’t forget that first session with 2 attendees at Bosco Juniors and thinking to myself, “this will never work!” I’m glad I was wrong!

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