Slam Jam: Basketball England want more kids to play

Time to shoot some hoops because Basketball England want more than one million children playing the sport.

The scheme called Slam Jam is the organisation's attempt to get 180,000 more children to pick up a ball and play.

Targeting seven to 11-year-olds, it hopes to give school children their first experience of basketball, as well learn skills such as dribbling and maybe even slam-dunking!

Basketball England says they have already seen more kids than ever getting involved in the sport, but they want more to do so.

The sport remains the second largest participation team sport for young people, behind football.

Figures from Sport England's Active Live Survey show that currently 902,000 children under the age of 16 are playing the game every week.

Training with school kids at a Slam Jam event in Manchester, England international basketball star, Georgia Jones answered questions and showed children what it takes to be a pro.

Twelve months on from a Commonwealth Games silver medal, Jones says schemes such as Slam Jam will be crucial when it comes to developing the next generation of international stars.

"It's a really good initiative for primary school kids - a really great way to get involved in sport, learn some key skills, get them involved and have some fun," she said.

However, the future of the national teams has been uncertain.

British Basketball has never won a medal at an Olympic Games and recently received just £75,000 to help preparations for Tokyo 2020, which is a small amount of money compared to other sports.

Do you play basketball? If you don't, would you like to try? Let us know in the comments below!