TALLINN (Estonia) – Project leader FIBA Europe and the rest of the partners that launched the ambitious Hoops for Schools (H4S) initiative nearly three years ago, held their annual meeting during the first weekend of October in Tallinn.
Delegations of the Estonian Basketball Federation - which also organized the event - of the Cypriot Basketball Federation and of Basketball Denmark attended the meeting.
The three national federations and FIBA Europe were joined by the four additional partners in the project, NBN23, the FIBA Foundation, the German Sports University In Cologne (GSU) and Special Olympics Europe Eurasia.
The two-day meeting provided the H4S partners with an opportunity to review the project’s progress so far, share opinions on best practices and discuss the next phase of development.
The main conclusion that all partners reached was even more satisfying and hopeful than they could have anticipated in January 2024, when they launched the project that is co-funded by the European Union through Erasmus+ Sport.
They concluded that H4S has successfully transitioned from an Erasmus+ project into a sustainable global program that continues to support the efforts of National Federations from around Europe to introduce basketball into schools and inspire the next generation of players.
The first full school year implementation of H4S run from September 2025 through June 2026. FIBA Europe presented the results of that school year during the meeting, highlighting some impressive figures.
In total, 18 European National Federations successfully implemented H4S at schools in their respective countries, while a further 10, as well as another five from outside Europe, have expressed interest in joining for the 2026-27 school year.
The program has already reached over 13,000 children in the first 18 countries, and the participating Federations have received the newly developed Hoops for Schools ball - a lightweight Size 5 ball specifically designed for school environments – as a reward for achieving high engagement.
Looking ahead, the partners agreed that their next goal is to raise to 30 the number of National Federations actively implementing H4S across Europe.
The European Union has taken note of the successful implementation of the program, and has approved a follow-up initiative, named Hoops for Schools+, which will focus on further enhancing the platform's tools and on strengthening participation, accessibility and inclusion through basketball.
The mission statement of H4S remains the same as it first launched, namely to strengthen grassroots basketball by supporting National Federations in developing and implementing their own digital basketball-in-schools programs.
FIBA-affiliated federations can find further info on the project at https://hoopsforschools.basketball/ or contact the project leaders at hoops4schools@fiba.basketball.
FIBA