ABOUT THE FOUNDATION

Newcastle Eagles basketball club has always maintained a long commitment to working with the local community. This led to Eagles Community Foundation (ECF) being established to deliver basketball opportunities from 2006.

The Foundation is a registered charity with clear objectives in place to operate what was not available to young people previously; a player pathway for all, participation and performance, coach development, volunteer development, education routes and of course access to facilities.

The main aim of the organisation is to grow levels of sustainable basketball participation, predominantly through the following programmes of activity across our player pathway structure:

• Mini Eagles
• Hoops 4 Health
  • STEM
  • Eagles Junior Clubs
• Eagles Central Venue League
• Newcastle Eagles Academy
  • Newcastle College Eagles Academy
  • TyneMet College Academy
  • Gateshead College Academy

WHERE TO PLAY AND JOIN A CLUB

We run 12 club sites across the North East, each with teams in multiple age groups from Under 6 to Under 18, which can be found on our interactive map:

To get a free taster session, join a club, purchase weekly activity, sign-up to camps and more visit the Eagles Nest – our membership system for access to junior basketball, this is across all forms of participation and all Eagles junior clubs:

OUTREACH

The Hoops 4 Health programme is a primary school introductory scheme, involving Eagles senior men and women’s players in a healthy living promotional programme. Both year 5 and 6 pupils participate within the scheme and are encouraged to attend an Eagles juniors clubs or to become involved with other local sports opportunities.

Once involved in a club environment the young people are part of a family of clubs operated by ECF officers and community coaches, of which there are currently fourteen full time staff and fifteen casual coaches. The structure is also set up to develop clubs and opportunities for volunteers to gain qualifications in coaching, refereeing and table officiating at their respective clubs.

Each club is expected to enter teams into the Eagles Central Venue League, operating at U8, U10, U12, U14, U16 and U18 age groups based at the Newcastle Eagles home: Vertu Motors Arena. The league takes place on Saturdays and Sundays across the playing season and has been in operation for 21 years. During this period the league has grown from an initial 4 teams to more than 157 teams participating.

For those who aspire to reach the next level in the sport, Newcastle Eagles Academy compete in the Basketball England National Basketball League (NBL) games with Under 14 and Under 16 boys’ and girls’ teams. For U18’s the Eagles are partnered with three colleges:

• Newcastle College Eagles CBL
• Gateshead College AOC
• Tynemet College AOC

From this point juniors who show development potential are encouraged to move into the Elite programmes either following Higher Education links both domestically or abroad or with the two senior teams.

Participation is however the key to all programmes and the growth in junior clubs over the past 20 years had impacted on regional senior participation, as a wave of players staying in the game continue to play in the regional senior leagues.

The programme is also responsible for developing the provision in curriculum time at primary and secondary school level. At primary school level the Hoops 4 Health programme is a key driver in developing participation and exit routes into clubs for 10 and 11 year olds.

The Foundation delivers school holidays camps across half terms and summer with the option to take part in camps and clinics.

If you want to get involved in the sport the opportunities are here.

SUPPORT THE FOUNDATION

Many of you have asked us how you can help and so we have set-up ways you can donate to our Eagles Community Foundation.

Your invaluable donations will help us ensure that no child in our region has a financial barrier preventing them from being able to take part in our sport.