MALVERN will soon be home to some of the best basketball courts in the country after the success of a 20-month campaign run by two enthusiasts of the sport.
Tom Bennett and Jon May, who launched the Malvern Hoops scheme in May 2016, said they were delighted after members of Malvern Town Council unanimously approved to spend up to £18,000 on the project.
This money will be added to the £50,000 section 106 money from Malvern Hills District Council and the remaining £5,000 which has to be fund-raised by Mr Bennett and Mr May.
The new basketball courts will be based at Victoria Park in Malvern Link and maintained by the town council.
Work is expected to start in the spring so the courts are ready for the summer.
The park will also become home to new netball courts and hoops.
It is proposed these courts will be available for boys and girls of all age groups, families, clubs and wheelchair users, without the need to compete for space with other sports such as football.
Speaking to the Observer Mr Bennett said: “Both myself and Jon would like to thank the town council and everyone who has supported the campaign – without them this result would not have been possible.~
“It is fantastic news that after almost two years of campaigning the town council voted in favour of supporting us.
“Basketball is now the second-highest participation sport among those aged between 11 and 15 and there are now also more women getting involved in the sport.
“Local participation ranges from five to 52-year-olds with men, women and children playing basketball.
“Also players in schools and local clubs will benefit from the new courts and it will allow new participation from people who have not played either sport before.”
Mr May and Mr Bennett, who have links to Worcester Wolves, have been campaigning hard over the last year-and-a-half after discovering Malvern’s basketball courts were not good enough to meet the interest in the increasingly popular sport.
The duo have had more than 15 meetings with the town council to tune their plans to improve the town’s basketball courts down to the smallest detail.
The long discussions have paid off and Mr Bennett heaped praise on town councillors for all their help.
“We have had councillors come to basketball sessions to get their views on the project while some have come down to the site to see what it entailed,” he said.
“Councillors have been so helpful that some of them even came to us in their own time to discuss ideas to get the plans moving forward.”
