Barnsley Metros put youth first as they embark on long-term journey to the BBL

Mere survival has been the objective for many clubs across a wide range of sports during the coronavirus pandemic, but one former professional athlete from South Yorkshire is actually launching a team.
Barnsley Metros owner and founder Will Hopper running a coaching sessionBarnsley Metros owner and founder Will Hopper running a coaching session
Barnsley Metros owner and founder Will Hopper running a coaching session

Will Hopper, 25, a basketball professional whose career was ended by injury, is setting up Barnsley Metros, a team for juniors and seniors that he hopes to one day take into the British Basketball League.

He is no rush to do that, though, with the more humble aim of getting more people in Barnsley playing basketball being one of the club’s principle aims.

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Plus, current restrictions on basketball being played below English Division One, means waiting for the right time to begin is a more sensible plan.

Calin Iacobescu who is captain of Barnsley Metros Under-19s team.Calin Iacobescu who is captain of Barnsley Metros Under-19s team.
Calin Iacobescu who is captain of Barnsley Metros Under-19s team.

“We’re not launching until September 2021, just because of the Covid situation,” said Hopper, who has been playing basketball since he was four and competed professionally in Malta, Denmark and Northern Ireland.

“If we’d have entered a team in Division Three we wouldn’t have been able to play. So we’re going to wait this year out, it’s an extra year to prepare and then we’ll attack it in 2021.”

When they do land in September 2021 the Metros intend to do so with Under-12/13s, Under-14s, Under16s, Under-19s and men’s teams.

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As head coach of the Barnsley College basketball team, Hopper is well placed to understand the level of interest in the sport in the town.

“The participation is okay in Barnsley, it’s not brilliant, but it’s encouraging,” he said.

“We’re not starting from scratch, there are already kids playing. We’re doing plenty in the community with the youth association in setting up a basketball project, and also next September we’re starting our own school basketball league, just to get more kids playing.”

If he can take the Metros all the way to the BBL it would mean rivalling the long-established Sheffield Sharks - a team Hopper has followed since the age of four - for young players and for the public interest.

But Hopper is content to build the club slowly.

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“It’s not an overnight thing, we’re not expecting for it to be next season that we’re in the BBL,” he said.

“It could easily take a decade but that’s the way I want to do it, I want to do it sustainably.

“You see teams, for exammple Leeds Force, who lasted four years and then they’re done.

“I want us to make sure that if we play at that level we can actually afford it.”

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