In 2009, Lee English had a dream to bring a successful National League Basketball team back to the City of Nottingham. 8 years later, the club is going from strength to strength, with the Men’s team playing and winning their 200th game.
In their first season, the Hoods went on to finish runners-up in the League and end the season as National Champions, beating the previously undefeated Birmingham Mets in the final, and it was at this point, that Coach and General Manager English knew he had created something special. With Nottingham legends, Guy Renton, Bruce Lauder and Anthony Haas, he had a solid building block to bring the next generation of Nottingham born players through the ranks and word soon spread as they were nominated for Team of the Year in the Nottinghamshire Sports Award dinner.
In 2010/11, a Junior and Ladies local league structure was added, with Junior Hoods u16 making the play-off final and Hoods Ladies winning the the Shield. The club were then awarded the prestigious Clubmark award, a rarity for such a young club.
More success followed in 2011/12 with Junior Hoods u18 making the play-off final and Hoods Ladies going one better and winning the cup.
After a few years of mid-table finishes in Division 3 for the senior Men’s team, it was 2014/15 where the Hoods began to find their rhythm again, finishing runners up in the league, making the play-off quarter finals and the National Shield Semi-Final. In the same year, Hoods Ladies made the Cup Final again, the Hoods minis went the entire season undefeated, the Senior Men made it 14 games unbeaten at home and Bruce Lauder was inducted into the Nottinghamshire Basketball Hall of Fame. The Hoods entered a second Mens Team and also started their partnership with Nottingham Trent University, taking over management of all their BUCS clubs.
Upon being promoted, the 2015/16 season continued the run of form as the Hoods made the step up to Division 2 with ease, finishing 4th and securing a home play-off tie, making it all the way to the semi-final and going a staggering 13 months unbeaten at home in all competitions. It was also this season that the Hoods made the change in approach with an entire junior structure of National League teams, u14, u16 and u18 – all of which stepped up to the challenge, with u14 earning promotion to the Premier League. 3 u18 players were offered scholarships in USA colleges, England u18 point guard Luke Mitchell earned a scholarship at the prestigious Montverde Prep School in Florida and 23 Junior Hoods gained East Midlands honours (3 u12, 10 u14, 6 u16 and 4 u18)
The Hoods started the 2016/17 season well, topping their Patrons Cup Group and in the top 4 of the league, before they were hit with a raft of injuries as 4 of the starting 5 were sidelined with long-term injuries. Despite that, the Hoods have performed admiralty and are still in with a shout of the play-offs as some of the players have started returning to the line-up, including BBL superstar and Nottingham born David Tin-tin Watts.
Hoods u16 are top of their league and were unbeaten in 2016, Hoods u18 are in play-off position and Hoods u14 won their first game in the Premier league in convincing style and are improving week on week against some of the most exciting talent in the UK. The future of the Hoods is looking very good!
