British Wheelchair Basketball Resources

It has once again been an extraordinary year for our sport both domestically and internationally and as we look towards 2023-24 financial year, I’d like to share with you our reflections on the past year as well as the direction of the sport going forward. The sport and its governing infrastructure are almost unrecognisable from the model we had in place just ten to fifteen years ago. British Wheelchair Basketball is the custodian for significant government and lottery investment into our major wheelchair basketball programmes such as the GB Performance Programme from UK Sport, our Uniting the Movement strategy for Sport England and our Inspire a Generation Programme, again for Sport England.

Along with the responsibility for the successful delivery of participation and performance programmes in line with the investment parameters, comes the requirement to ensure that British Wheelchair Basketball, as an organisation meets the contractual, governance and financial requirements in place by these funders. Predominately this is the mandatory requirement for the sport to meet the Code for Sport Governance framework. Without our continued compliance to this framework, the sport would be ineligible to access the funding which is so critical to delivering our talent pathways and growing sustainable grassroots participation. Even though British Wheelchair Basketball is a small sport, the value of the funding we receive means that we must meet the same Code for Sport Governance standards as many larger sports. For a small, historically membership led organisation, this can understandably seem like a significant culture change, away from a familiar and known model which has previously served the sport.

As a Board we are acutely aware of the impact of this culture change, the most significant of which is that we have moved from a majority member elected Board structure to a combination of appointed non-executive directors, an independent chair and member elected representatives. Although this structure change was mandatory and instigated through the introduction of the Code for Sports Governance in 2016 – seeing the appointment of our first independent Chair in 2018 – we are united in our commitment that this is absolutely the right direction for British Wheelchair Basketball and is critical to ensuring the long-term sustainability and financial health of our sport.

On reflection, and if we had the power to change history, the timing of this change could have been better. However, no one foresaw a world-wide pandemic, and therefore we were changing the bare bones of the sport without the ability to see and speak with our membership directly, who have always been and will remain the cornerstone of our sport.

I would therefore like to use this Welcome to introduce the Board, their areas of excellence and share the knowledge they individually bring to this incredible sport. Each member of our Board holds a deep sense of responsibility for the role they play as a custodian of the sport and influencing its future strategic direction. Our Board can be contacted directly and would value meeting and speaking with our membership directly – so if you see them at an event – please say hello and share with them your thoughts and reflections on wheelchair basketball and where you think it should and could flourish in the future: –

Jules Parke-Robinson (Appointed: July 2021) | Chair & Safeguarding Board Lead | Governance Specialist

Kirstin Furber (Appointed: July 2019) | Senior Independent Non-Executive Director | HR Specialist

Emma Calvert (Appointed: April 2022) | Independent Non-Executive Director & Chair of FRAG (Finance, Risk and Governance Committee) | Finance Specialist

Sam Whale (Appointed: March 2017) | Independent Non-Executive Director & Chair of PAC (Performance Advisory Committee) | People Development Specialist

Kevin Analuwa (Appointed: March 2023) | Independent Non-Executive Director | Inclusion and Diversity Board Champion

Tanya Harris (Appointed: May 2020) | Independent Non-Executive Director | UK Anti-Doping Board Champion | Major Event Specialist

Craig Boyd (Appointed: July 2019) | Independent Non-Executive Director | Elite Sport Specialist Chris Hassell (Elected: December 2020) | Sports Director | Club Development
Frances Kremarik (Elected: December 2022) Sports Director | Officiating
Emma Foden (Elected: December 2022) Sports Director | Events & Technical

We have also expressed our sincerest thanks to member elected Sports Director Dan Johnson, Non- executive director Jo Simpson and Non-Executive Director Philip Wilson, who each retired from the Board during 2022/23.

Alongside the cultural change at Board level, the last four years has also seen significant change to the landscape of wheelchair basketball as we worked to deliver our 2019-2024 strategy. Again, we recognise that significant change took place whilst the sport was suspended during COVID-19, with the sport returning to play alongside new structures, leagues and programmes.

This season marked the second year of the Women’s Premier League and a renewal of the BBCs commitment to regularly stream league fixtures via its platform. As a movement for women’s wheelchair basketball the league has been game changing, we now have more women playing more minutes, at a higher-level week in week out, than ever before. We can see this investment in talent development in our pathways as well as in the recently announced GB selection for the World Championships.

We are acutely aware that there is a growing demand for regular high-quality streaming of our domestic premier league, alongside the Women’s Premier League coverage. Whilst we are committed to elevating all aspects of our sport, we are aware that this development will require significant time and investment to be able to deliver.

As a Board we are whole-heartedly committed to driving the sport forward, and very much feel that there is a renewed vigour within the sport to contribute and supports its growth. In addition to our major international competitions for our GB Teams, our focus for 2023-24 will be to:

Club Infrastructure: Support the development of a healthy & sustainable UK club infrastructure (including EDI, Safeguarding, coach development, participation growth, planning)

Communication & Visibility: To invest in better communication practices & systems across all of our networks

Workforce & People: To create & deliver a workforce plan (recruitment, development and retention of our officiating workforce), coach development & education.

Finally, the organisation itself has undergone significant change during 2022-23, with a key leadership change as Lisa Pearce departed to take a role in women’s football and the NGB welcomed Justine Baynes as new CEO. The senior management team also welcomed Diccon Edwards into the role of Performance Director in July 2022, and Sam Rock as interim Participation Director in April 2022. I’d like to express our thanks to Lisa Pearce for her service to the sport, and the changes she was instrumental in delivering during her tenure as CEO. She has handed over a financially sound organisation with huge potential.

The trustees who are also directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006, presented their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2023.