At City of Birmingham Rockets, every player who joins the club becomes part of a clear, structured pathway – one that’s designed to support development at every stage, from a child’s very first session through to representative and senior basketball. Our pathway documents set out exactly how that structure works, and show where each of our teams and programmes sits within it.
The pathway begins with our community and schools programmes, where the focus is on introducing children to the game, building fundamental skills, and developing a genuine love of basketball in a fun, welcoming environment. From there, players progress into our community development sessions, where coaching becomes more structured and technical, and players begin to be challenged in a more competitive setting.
Players who continue to progress move into our Performance Programme, where training intensity, coaching quality and competitive standard step up significantly. This is where technical, physical and tactical development are combined with genuine performance expectations, preparing players for representative honours and the next stage of the pathway.
For players aged 16 and above, that next stage is the Rockets Academy, delivered in partnership with post-16 education. The Academy allows talented young players to combine full-time elite basketball training with their college studies, giving them the chance to develop as athletes while continuing their academic education, without having to choose between the two. It’s a crucial bridge between our youth pathway and senior basketball, and one of the most important stages in a young player’s development at the club.
At the top of the pathway sit our senior men’s and women’s teams. Our men’s first team competes in British Championship Basketball (BCB), while our women’s first team competes in Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) Division 2 – both representing the pinnacle of the Rockets pathway for their respective programmes. Many of our current senior players, on both the men’s and women’s sides, progressed through the very same community, development, performance and Academy stages that today’s young players are working through now.
We believe in complete transparency about how this pathway works, because we want every parent, player and coach to understand not just where they are today, but what the road ahead can look like. Please take a look at the full pathway documents below to see exactly where your team or child currently sits, and what progression through the club can look like from here.
[Download the Rockets Pathway Documents]
If you have any questions about the pathway, or your child’s current stage within it, please get in touch at enquiries@cobrockets.co.uk.
