Wolves Foundation’s Your Spaces project has seen the charity link up with many different organisations across the city to the benefit of local communities.
The innovative project, funded by the Premier League Foundation and City of Wolverhampton Council, sees the Foundation and other groups put on activities at city locations to encourage positive use of parks and open spaces, reduce anti‑social behaviour and help communities to feel safer and more connected.
One of the partner organisations is Team Wolverhampton SLAM!, a community-based basketball organisation founded in 2008, and one of their co-founders and directors, Douaine Anderson, is now leading sessions as part of Your Spaces.
Douaine, born and brought up in the city and a former student at Colton Hills Community School, grew up playing basketball both at school and junior clubs, emerging from the under-15s at Birmingham Bullets to be part of their men’s programme.
He also headed over to play the game at a high level in America, winning a scholarship at Wilmington College and then graduating from Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire.
On returning to England, Douaine once again played for Birmingham Bullets, as well as Worcester Wolves, before moving into coaching and teaching.
“Having played the game made such a difference, as it helps me to still live and feel what I am talking about, which adds real value when I am coaching,” says Douaine.
“It was around 18 years ago when I decided I wanted to set up SLAM!, as I had the ambition to run a sports-based mentoring programme involving basketball.
“The first summer I went to around five different parks each week of the school holidays, say for example All Saints the one day, Heath Town the next, and at the end of it, invited all the different participants to a session at the Royal School.
“I ended up with around 35 kids coming along to that final session, and from there, building more networks across different schools, we have continued to grow.”
Douaine and SLAM! support Wolves Foundation by linking up for Your Spaces sessions at Heath Town, along with the Hope Community Project, which is based at the facility.
Weekly Your Spaces sessions also take place at Peace Park in Whitmore Reans, and Tennyson Road in Low Hill.
Other partners involved include Kixx, Community First, Mandem Meet-Up, Beatsabar, and TLC College, with all bringing something different to the project to the benefit of local youngsters.
For Douaine, the motivation is clear. Not just to help people develop their skills at basketball, but also develop so many of the associated qualities which regular playing of sport can bring.
He still heads on court himself, recently representing Great Britain over-40s team in the European Championships in Italy, as well as running a basketball academy at St Peter’s Collegiate Academy next to the Wolves’ training ground in Compton.
“It’s not just about developing basketball skills, it’s also about using the sport as a tool to mentor young people and better their life chances,” he explains.
“So, when we started speaking to Wolves Foundation about these sessions, it was an easy decision to want to join in and enrich the programmes already taking place.
“Being part of Your Spaces and supporting young people is great and it gives them something to engage with and focus on which is really positive.
“As soon as we arrive here in Heath Town, the kids start to head down to the court from the local community, and it’s such a great way for them to learn without having to sit down and be quiet which they need to do in other situations.”
Jonathan Warburton, the Foundation’s head of programmes for education, employability and youth engagement, says the early success of Your Spaces has been helped by the strong element of partnership work which is involved in its delivery.
“When launching this project with the City of Wolverhampton Council, we were keen to adopt a hyper local approach by focusing on youth and community organisations who already had a track record and strong networks within the city,” he says.
“In this aspect, SLAM Basketball and Hope Community Project have proved a great fit for Heath Town.
“Douaine is someone whose work we were already aware of and his track record in sport and as a community leader makes him both engaging and extremely relatable to the young people.
“It has become a key part of Your Spaces which, with thanks to funding from the Premier League Foundation, is proving a much-needed and powerful project, delivering a huge range of activities in existing open spaces across the city.”
For more information about Your Spaces and to check the current timetable, click here to visit the Foundation website and scroll down to the bottom of the page.