2025/26 Impact Report

Wellbeing

“Guardian Ballers has become an integral part of our School Community empowering hundreds of children to discuss their feelings and emotions openly and confidently. The elite training for our basketball teams has increased whole-school sporting participation and the results that our teams achieve. The dedication of the team to the betterment of our students' lives matches our vision for providing the best for our students both academically and for personal development of the self"
Headteacher at Multi-Academy Trust
After witnessing impact and investing weekly into Guardian Ballers partnership for over 18 months

Our Team

We exist to empower young people to become happy, healthy and community-transformers. There are thousands of young people who can be magnetised by Basketball then led to greater wellbeing and to have a greater impact on their own community.

Activate is a fun course ! They make you feel welcome, and you learn a lot of new things. You get to play basketball and talk with friendly people. It has helped me for playing basketball matches. I’ve learned to channel my anger into playing- it's better than lashing out and crashing out.
Young Person, male, aged 17 , June 2025
Participated to the Activate programme

Join us

“If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.” (African Proverb)

We love functioning as a part of a wider community. Here is how you or your connections can join our journey.

Become a GB Volunteer

  • By assisting the team with delivery to schools during the day or at events in the evenings or on weekends (no experience required).
  • By supporting GB with your skills (languages, sports, your area of study, tech support,…)

Any skill is valuable if you’re passionate about young people’s mental health!

  • Volunteers must pass a DBS check
  • Volunteers must attend our ‘Leaders Gatherings’ (every 4 months) to hear about Guardian Ballers’s updates, receive training, and shape the vision with the team
  • Volunteers must have Availability to help out regularly for a minimum of 6 months
If this sounds like you, click the link below and we’ll be in touch!

Connect us to your network​

Connect with Guardian Ballers
  • Help Guardian Ballers by connecting us with your network of friends, colleagues, or community contacts.
  • Support Guardian Ballers by leveraging your network to help us build partnerships, engage new supporters, and expand our reach.
  • Act as a bridge between Guardian Ballers and your community, helping us make new connections.

Give your time, skills or Funds

  • Be a Special Guest or deliver a guest session in schools or during a Basketball event to empower young people.
  • Sponsor one or multiple young people (different programmes available) to have a direct impact on their journey towards peace and purpose
  • Help GB acquire resources and tools that enable us to deliver a more enhanced experience to the young people.
BECOME A GUARDIAN BALLERS VOLUNTEER
“The elite players found the sessions relatable to their every day lives.. they came and told me that they now had tools to take back to their local settings… I wish I had this sort of support when I was a young professional player!”
Danny Williams (Basketball England Talent Manager)
After a Mental and Emotional Wellbeing Workshop at England Central SuperHub

Events

Page is updated Monthly as new events for the public become available.
Connect with us on social media @guardianballersuk to get updates!

If you want to book or collaborate with us for an event, see our Programmes page for ideas then Contact Us.

“It is brilliant in every way... The importance of the issue, the concept, the passion, the positivity, the people engaged and their stories, the volunteers, the response from the schools, how it uses and portrays basketball and most importantly, the impact it’s having on young people. We need more Guardian Ballers.”
Stewart Kellett, CEO of Basketball England
Quoted after the Release of "Guardian Ballers Life Stories" film

Programmes

For more infomation about our programmes or to book our services, please Contact Us

 

Activate is a fun course ! They make you feel welcome, and you learn a lot of new things. You get to play basketball and talk with friendly people. It has helped me for playing basketball matches. I’ve learned to channel my anger into playing- it's better than lashing out and crashing out.
Young Person, male, aged 17 , June 2025
Participated to the Activate programme

Impact

“It is brilliant in every way... The importance of the issue, the concept, the passion, the positivity, the people engaged and their stories, the volunteers, the response from the schools, how it uses and portrays basketball and most importantly, the impact it’s having on young people. We need more Guardian Ballers.”
Stewart Kellett, CEO of Basketball England
Quoted after the Release of "Guardian Ballers Life Stories" film

Purpose

We want to empower a generation of “Guardian Ballers” that are happy and healthy, so they can transform the world around them.

 

Guardian Ballers focuses mainly on young people aged 10-25 to empower them to BALL-BE-BETTER:

BALL | Enabling engagement, progression and enjoyment in the Sport of Basketball.

BE | Educating about mental and emotional well-being, exploring the value of character and identity, as a foundation for impacting current and future life circumstances.

BETTER | Facilitating practical experiences with local charities and community organisations, to discover how to make the world better.

We act to empower young people to #BallBeBetter through a variety of Programmes such as: School enrichment delivery; Community journeys and Partnerships; Holiday Experiences and Events; Leadership growth; Charity engagement; Special events; Elite Sport Support; Intervention; Creative and Entrepreneurship development; Partnership-working with public services and Faith communities.

To tackle disparities and injustices that exist in societal, mental health and sporting statistics, we focus our delivery (not exclusively, but intentionally) on targeted communities: Black, Asian and Minority Ethnicities, those from Lower Socio-Economic backgrounds, and Females.
N.B. We do not exclude any population, but we do aim to bring equity to tackle disproportions in data.

 

Becoming a Guardian Ballers Leader taught me how to be confident, believe in myself and take opportunities which is something I struggled to do before.
Helena
Discovered GB as a young person in 2021 then became an intern in 2025