Matt’s Story - Bristol Brickers
This month we met with Matt who lives in Southmead and is part of The Community Church in Southmead. He shared his story of running a basketball club for young people in his community.
Where did the idea come from?
It started with a conversation back in 2019, chatting with James, a youth worker from Southmead Youth Centre, and Steve, who had been successfully running something called 'Football Church’ for kids at Woodlands Church.
I live in Southmead and had been volunteering at the youth centre for some time. Having got to know young people here, and what was and wasn’t available in our community for them, I felt led to explore how I could host something new - combining sport with faith and holistic personal development.
The model of a ‘Football Church’ session is to combine football skills training with some input about faith and God, too. However, during our conversation, a penny dropped as I realised that instead of football, we should set up a basketball club. Basketball is a passion of mine, I really enjoy it and am good at it - so it made much more sense to build upon those strengths.
We adapted the model that Steve had created and recruited a team of volunteers to get started. Some were from church but not all, and they weren’t necessarily people with skills in basketball! We obtained a grant from Scripture Union which enabled us to buy equipment and covered our initial venue hire costs. With humble beginnings, we started to meet in the youth centre and the sessions quickly became very popular. Later on, we moved to our local secondary school, which attracted even more young people.
What is unique about your basketball club?
Our ethos is that everyone is welcome and we’ve loved welcoming young people of different genders, abilities, and those who wouldn’t usually choose to play sport. While there’s obviously a big focus on developing basketball skills, we pair it with a focus on developing holistic wellbeing for the young people who attend - physical, mental, spiritual and emotional. Therefore, as well as game time, we set aside time for a ‘team talk’. Basketball is simply the tool which helps the young people to grow in all aspects of life. We also named the team ‘Bristol Brickers’ (‘brick’ being the expression used for a really bad shot in basketball) as a way of stating that the team is for everyone of all abilities.
What are some of the good things that have come out of the club?
When we were first starting out, we received an email from a parent who was worried about their son who had been struggling with life. At the time, they didn’t know we were planning to run basketball sessions, but it just so happened that their son was really into basketball. He started coming along, got really stuck in, and a year later, came along to a Christian youth camp with our church. This was a dream outcome for us! It also reaffirmed that this is much more than providing a basketball club. Using the club as an entry point, we have the opportunity to connect young people with other activities too.
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, we had to stop meeting in person for a few months. However, in that time, we started to use Instagram to stay in touch with the young people and quickly built a thriving community of ‘followers’. We shared a ‘brick of the week’ video, showcasing our worst shots, as well as a regular ‘team talk’ video. It became a really valuable space for staying connected with other people, while it wasn’t possible to meet in-person, for me as much as for the young people.
What have the challenges been?
When the summer after the first Covid-19 lockdown arrived and Government restrictions changed, we were able to start sessions again in-person. However, since the school wasn’t taking external bookings,
we had to find a new venue. I’m motivated by a desire to positively impact the community where I live, and so staying local was key. Therefore, we relocated to the outdoor courts at Doncaster Road Park.
We now have the added challenge of unpredictable weather, and in the winter months we’re not able to meet as it's too dark and there are no lights! However, during the summer the unexpected benefit of being outdoors was that it increased our visibility and enabled us to connect with different young people!
Aside from weather, other challenges we face are volunteer capacity and a reluctance from the young people to open up. While the group has been formed with a basketball focus, and isn’t run as a mental health drop in session, we are keen to create a culture where sharing life is the norm.
What has made Bristol Brickers so successful?
Before starting the club, I’d already been volunteering at the youth centre for a while. Having invested that time in building relationships, there was already a foundation of trust which was key when getting the basketball sessions up and running.
Additionally, because I live locally and intentionally ‘do life’ here (that is, use the local shops and businesses), then I will often bump into the young people in everyday life. I describe it as connecting ‘around the edges’. Having that constant presence in our neighbourhood has enabled me to have a positive, consistent influence, particularly for those young people whose lives are more chaotic.
