Your Local Club: Brent Bulls Basketball Club

Talking with Clive Castillo, the founder of basketball team Brent Bulls, you’d be forgiven for thinking the team has been shooting hoops for decades. With juniors in the National Basketball League and a women’s team in the first division, the accolades would suggest this. But his team was born out of the pandemic just two years ago and has since become a stalwart feature of the local community; whether teaching skills to primary school children or simply inviting anyone and everyone who’s on the sideline to join in one of their community sessions.

We spoke to Clive to find out more about the Brent Bulls and how you can get involved…

Tell us about your club
I founded the Brent Bulls in 2020 and our mission ever since has been to provide basketball programmes and services for all levels and ages while increasing participation in and around northwest London.  

Since the beginning, it has been really important to us to build a basketball club that the northwest London community can be proud of. To do that we are focused on providing opportunity, inclusivity, and connectivity to different ages and groups in our area from grassroots juniors to seniors. 

We have female and male senior teams as well as girl and boy programmes for the juniors. We also offer community training sessions to all ages who want to get active but not necessarily join a team.

Basketball is a sport that often gets overlooked – compared to football and rugby – despite it being the most participated and popular sport in the borough of Brent (according to findings by Brent Council).

For the juniors, we have Under 18 and Under 16 teams across boys and girls and a new Under 12 kids team too, all of which compete in the National League which is the highest level of junior basketball in the country. Before we started these teams for local kids there was little to no opportunity to enter the National League in the northwest area of London, so we’re very proud to have made that happen. 

Where are the Brent Bulls based?
Our home is at the University of Westminster on the Harrow campus, within the Harrow Sports Hall. By being based in northwest London we are active and visible in lots of different areas including Brent, Harrow, and Barnet.  We go into primary schools in those areas to do community basketball sessions and engage the community across all of those boroughs. Often in our school sessions, we’re introducing kids to the sport for the first time so it’s all about participating, having fun, and expressing themselves. 

What’s great about basketball?
It’s a very accessible sport so you don’t really have to invest or spend a lot of money to participate, you can just buy a basketball and find a local hoop and shoot. You can do this solo or in a group of friends.

It’s also very social and inclusive. For instance, our community sessions which happen outdoors, so we may have some music playing, will often get lots of people wanting to join in. Our coaches will teach them a bit of the fundamentals of basketball including the basics of shooting, passing, and dribbling and then hopefully if they enjoy it they get more involved. From there they can find local clubs such as ourselves that they want to find a safe space to learn and participate in.

Do you find that women and girls are just as excited to get involved as their male-counterparts
Absolutely. The females within Brent Bulls are very inspiring. There are only a few opportunities in London for women to play at a high level – there is the London Lions of course, who are a professional team. Our Brent Bulls Women’s got promoted straightaway after competing last year and now provide a semi-professional platform for women in London, which is amazing.

We want to be visible so that the women and girls that are within our community can say, “oh wow, I can be a women’s player for the Brent Bulls and inspire a whole generation”. We get such a great turnout from our community when the women play. And that’s what we always wanted. We had 200 people plus coming to watch our women play and I felt that was a change of culture. It showed there was more awareness for our sport, but more importantly, immense pride in the community as well.

If someone would like to find out more about Brent Bulls what should they do?
Social media is our main source of information. We are very active on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. We also recently joined TikTok. There’s also our website.

Then the next best thing to do is just join one of our community sessions. Come and meet our coaches, introduce yourself and just see how the session goes. I understand it can be daunting, lots of kids get nervous in their first session because it’s a new environment and they don’t know anyone. Coming with friends can help people feel a bit more confident. Also, remembering that everyone is at a different level and there’s no pressure.

What sessions do you offer and how much do they cost?
We recently started our Baby Bulls session which is for three to seven-year-olds and then we have the Mini Bulls which is for kids aged seven to 12. At this point, we mix girls and boys together and it is about getting them having fun and building up their balance, coordination, and movement. They both cost £4.

Every week on a Tuesday and Thursday, during the school holidays but also in term time too, we have community junior sessions. Kids can just come in, and meet the coaches. We accept all kids; from different skill levels and even from different clubs who might just want to try us out or meet our coaches.

For seniors, both women’s and men’s is £5 a session. We are currently offering community sessions where women can come down and play with our Brent Bull women’s team while they are out of season.

What clothes should someone wear to play?
We recommend clothes that you’re comfortable in. Basketball shorts are usually what everyone wears: as long as you can move around then you’re good to go. We do recommend basketball shoes which are made differently from running or sports shoes; they protect the ankles a bit more. Oh and a bottle of water because we do a lot of running and activity!

Basketball is also great from a fitness perspective. A lot of people play it for the cardio aspect rather than going on a running machine or cycling because it’s a game that gives you a great workout.

For you personally what’s the best thing about your club?
Our goal is not to win championships and be the best team in the UK. Our aim is to be a team that northwest London and our community can be proud of. For me, that sense of pride comes from the people we have on board. I get to work with people that are very passionate and that want to help. I really like to champion our coaches because they’re doing so much for our community.

We only get to work with these kids for a short space of time, maybe two hours or four hours a week, but within those hours we try to instill our values of being accountable and kind to one another. If they choose to be on a court it’s not like a classroom where they have to be there so within that time, we want to be helping them to develop soft skills that they can apply onwards in their lives.

Lastly, are there any future plans for the club we should know about?
3X3 basketball is an Olympic-recognized sport now, which is amazing, and we should have one of these games coming up soon. It’s just three basketball players vs three other basketball players. What’s different about it is it’s more fast-paced, so they only use half of the court space rather than the full court. It’s really exciting to watch and a sport growing in popularity. We should have one of those matches in Brent Cross Town soon. Check our social media for timings.

Then what I look forward to is building more connections within our local community. For example, building connections with Brent Cross Town as well as a recent partnership with Nike in the Wembley Unite Outlet. Little things like this help us build a presence within the community. 

We just want a club that the community can be proud of, which provides inclusivity, support, and opportunities. I’d love to provide basketball for disabilities, so for wheelchair users or to offer walking basketball which is a trend where people walk and play basketball which is popular with older people. If we can find the resources and facilities to do that then that’s where we want to get to. That would be fantastic.

https://www.brentbulls.com