Basketball Ireland has released its 5 Year Strategic Plan 2023-2027, which lays out the organisation’s growth targets for the sport.
Among its ambitions is to increase the numbers of registered players, referees, table officials and coaches by more than a third, while growing the amount of clubs island-wide by 24%, to 260.
There are also plans to redevelop and modernise the National Basketball Arena during the lifespan of the Strategic Plan.
Basketball Ireland is also targeting Olympic participation through 3x3; to enable this it is hoped that 3x3 will become a high-performance Sport Ireland funded programme. A new High Performance Unit is also on the agenda, along with developing Basketball Ireland’s Centres of Excellence around the country.
Basketball Ireland CEO, John Feehan, said: “This 5 Year Strategic Plan spells out the direction of travel basketball is going.
"It’s an exciting time for the sport and we need to keep that positive momentum going.
.@BballIrl CEO John Feehan pictured with Ireland internationals James Gormley and Ciara Bracken, U16 international Kareem Matonmi and David Ajavon from Moyle Park College at the launch of the Basketball Ireland 5 Year Strategic Plan 2023-2027 today! (📸 @LaszloGeczo) pic.twitter.com/oMtYtNUwcs
— Inpho Photography (@Inphosports) April 26, 2023
"Upping standards on and off the court is central to this, including best-in-practice corporate governance, increasing commercial revenue, continuing to raise basketball’s profile through traditional media and our own channels and improving the quality and access level of facilities.
"Working alongside our clubs, committees, players, officials and volunteers, we can achieve all that we have set out in this Strategic Plan.”
Basketball Ireland chairperson, Paul McDevitt, added: “Basketball in Ireland has seen tremendous growth over the last number of years and central to this are the dedicated volunteers around the country, with whom we consulted when bringing this Strategic Plan to fruition.
"It is there to support those people, to ensure the sport in Ireland reaches its full potential.
"While basketball is fortunate to have an equal gender split when it comes to participation, this Strategic Plan outlines the desire to increase the number of women in leadership roles, as part of our ‘Women In Basketball’ strategy.
"We have 79 different nationalities represented among our playing membership and we want to engage more people from diverse communities and provide opportunities to get involved. These are just a few of the things that are key to the continued progress of basketball in Ireland.”
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