Myerscough Basketball and Preston Basketball Club merge junior programmes in landmark move for North West

The aim of the partnership is to create an ambitious free-flowing pathway for youth players in the area.

The merger between Myerscough and Preston will provide opportunities for those aged five and upwards to gain experience at the regional and national junior levels of Basketball England and the North West from the beginning of their careers through the elite academy level.

Myerscough’s junior programme has been growing exponentially, highlighted by the recent under-14 and under-16 regional championship seasons, which provides the perfect chance to be able to take it to the next level alongside Preston Basketball Club.

Myerscough’s Head of Basketball Neal Hopkins, said: ‘’Preston Basketball Club has long been established as a standout community organisation, and they’ve done an outstanding job of providing a fantastic outlet within our area.

‘’There’s a huge amount of shared ambitions and the merger really presents a big opportunity to drive basketball forward in Preston and the surrounding areas,” said

“Being able to embed the resources that we have at Myerscough is crucial. Our ‘Rising Hoopers’ programme has gone from strength to strength and is ready to expand and this really is a great moment to strike whilst the iron is hot and push basketball to a new level.”

Preston Basketball Club currently runs thriving under-7 and under-9 sessions whilst they also have two under-11 and one under-12 team that all competed in regional league during the 2024-25 season. There are also two under-14 and under-16 teams each that compete at the regional and National League level.

For girls, there’s 13 to 18 age group that will hopefully continue to grow alongside the combined resources provided of the two programmes to break that down into smaller age gaps.

PBC, meanwhile, will continue to operate its own three local senior men’s league and one National League teams independently of Myerscough.

Preston Basketball Club Director Andrew Thrower said: “It’s all about creating a greater talent pathway for the kids—that’s the ultimate goal, and, aside from that, the two (clubs) are hand and glove next to each other in terms of location.

“With Neal and within his team, there’s a sudden access to some phenomenal coaching and a great venue to help both sides continue to grow as we’re pretty much at our maximum.”

“It is out of necessity to an extent but I’m a huge believer in get the product right, get the coaching right, get the offering right and not accepting second best. It’s then about creating extra opportunities to play and to play against higher level competition in practices and games.”