“I never intended to become a volunteer, but I became frustrated by the lack of support from my son’s basketball club, the Bristol Flyers. Another Flyers volunteer said to me, ‘if you don’t like it, why don’t you do something about it?’ So, I volunteered!
For the next two years I became my son’s team’s manager. I ended up doing loads of different things, like liaising between coaches, parents, academy hierarchy, referees, and other team managers. I built up good relationships and gained the confidence to organise tournaments and games for the U12s at various venues. Little did I know that organising these would come in handy later.
Alongside this role, I also volunteered as Abbey Wood’s Basketball Club representative for multiple CSSC tournaments. I arranged sessions at the sports hall, sorted out funding for the team to buy kits and basketballs and organised social events like attending Flyers games.
Becoming a CSSC volunteer
When the opportunity came up this year to become the national basketball organiser for CSSC, I knew I had the skills that it needed and enough confidence to take on the role. I was really pleased to be appointed, and I am enjoying the extra challenge. My main goal was to bring back a yearly mixed tournament (after a five-year absence) which I achieved last year.
I was appointed in June 2024 and the first mixed yearly tournament went ahead in October 2024. I thought this was impossible, but thanks to good teamwork from all CSSC volunteers and teams we made it happen.
Becoming a CSSC volunteer
When the opportunity came up this year to become the national basketball organiser for CSSC, I knew I had the skills that it needed and enough confidence to take on the role. I was really pleased to be appointed, and I am enjoying the extra challenge. My main goal was to bring back a yearly mixed tournament (after a five-year absence) which I achieved last year.
I was appointed in June 2024 and the first mixed yearly tournament went ahead in October 2024. I thought this was impossible, but thanks to good teamwork from all CSSC volunteers and teams we made it happen.
I reached out to the previous organiser for a distribution list, created a WhatsApp Group for all team captains interested and advertised the event nationwide. I explored the viability of different venues and found that Bath University was the best option. I used my contacts from my son’s team to engage the services of referees and table officials. There was some confusion over the rules we would play by, and the most challenging issue for me was resolving this and getting teams to agree that females would be included!
I worked alongside CSSC’s Head of Sports who provided table officials, promotion materials, balls, scoreboards, a trophy, and vouchers for the Most Valuable Players (both females and males). We nearly had a problem with parking charges, but I managed to negotiate a good deal with the University. One of the highlights of the event was a friendly get together the night before in Bath city centre.
It's not all plain sailing
Not everything went to plan on the day. Due to a few player dropouts I had to revise the schedule on the day, which left us with six teams. This actually worked out better for everyone as we had fewer games and we didn’t have to worry about time restrictions and could easily finish in the allotted time of six hours. Despite the late starts and a few minor injuries along the way there were some good games, all taken part in the spirit of fair play.
Unfortunately, due to injury I couldn’t play. But because I have recently qualified to become a table official for my son’s team, this meant I could help during the tournament itself. The change in schedule meant I could draft some players in who didn’t play and could help me out on the table.
A slam dunk
CSSC London beat our Abbey Wood DSRA Dinos 1 team in the final. After the trophy was handed over with female and male MVPs getting vouchers, and the obligatory talks were finished, everybody made their way home, and I was left with a satisfying feeling of a job well done.
The feedback I got afterwards was overwhelmingly a positive experience, and they would like to come back again next year. The plan is to organise a bigger and better tournament next year at a central England venue with accommodation on site so that more teams can take part and ultimately have a great time.”
Get involved with CSSC Basketball
If you’d like to find out more about either playing at or coaching in one of CSSC’s upcoming basketball events or even help Abel to organise the next tournament. Please get in touch at Organiser Basketball.