BE and its partners aim to bolster the basketball infrastructure in the city to increase grassroots participation opportunities in both the 3x3 and 5v5 formats of the game for the sport to be enjoyed for generations to come.

"When the England men’s and women’s teams created basketball history at Birmingham 2022, winning gold and silver medals, we saw how it captured people’s attention and imagination. That summer, momentum for the sport changed and we wanted to ensure with Sport England and Birmingham City Council that everyone inspired by our athletes’ feats would have somewhere of their own to enjoy basketball and deliver a legacy from the Games. The work to bring these courts up-to-scratch means we are making good on our promise to create free and accessible playing opportunities and will further cement Birmingham as a basketball city," BE’s Head of Participation Peter Griffiths said according to an official press release from Basketball England. 

The project to renovate and enhance basketball courts across England’s second-biggest city has begun this summer after contractor Blakedown Sport and Play was appointed to carry out the work.

The sports facility construction firm has a pedigree in refurbishing outdoor basketball courts, having worked on the 3x3 courts in Northampton’s Racecourse Park in 2023. Seventeen locations are included in the project, which is part-funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

The majority are set to have a distinct purple and grey colourway painted to pay homage to the Birmingham 2022 court at Smithfield, where England won 3x3 gold and silver medals. Hamstead Playing Fields is the court that England and GB international Myles Hesson – who created one of the most watched moments of the Games, scoring the buzzer-beater to sink Australia in the 3x3 gold medal game – played on as a youngster.

The courts are:

• Chamberlain Gardens

• Clifton Road Youth Centre

• Cotteridge Park

• George’s Park

• Gilbertstone Recreation Ground

• Hamstead Playing Fields

• Kings Heath Park

• Musgrave Road Recreation Ground

• Nechells Open Space (Mount Street)

• Nechells Wellbeing Centre

• Perry Common Recreation Ground

• Queen’s Park

• St Paul’s Trust Children’s Centre

• Shenley Field

• Tower Street Recreation Ground

• Victoria Common

• Woodview Pocket Park