WE ARE A COMMUNITY CLUB WHERE ALL ABILITIES, ALL AGES, ALL WAYS OF THINKING ARE WELCOME TO COME ALONG WHENEVER THEY WANT AND AS MUCH AS THEY WANT
WE PLAY FOR FUN, FITNESS AND KINDNESS

OUR SESSIONS ARE OPEN TO EVERYONE
Most of us experience sports coaching based around a coach or PE teacher helping us to play in a correct way... meaning mistakes are to be avoided. We don't coach this way
We see mistakes as portals of discovery. We encourage all players to try things they don't know will work and when they don't work adapt to find a better way and see where it takes them. We call this play Smart. Letting other players learn by trying things they don't know will work is what we call play Kind. Only competing with those of a similar or higher standard to ourselves (giving weaker players space to grow) and doing our best to avoid fouling each other is what we call playing safe. As we all have different strengths and weaknesses we all end up finding our own different ways to enjoy playing basketball
We help top level players find ways to lift their performance beyond playing perfectly
We help younger and older players adapt to their changing bodies to reinvent how they play
We help all players to be flexible thinkers to enjoy unplanned, unpredictable jumps in performance
WE PLAY BASKETBALL IN ST ALBANS
ALL SESSIONS ARE CLOSED DUE TO THE VIRUS
We are planning more sessions and hope to add netball. Camps, festivals and trips can be found under the event tab
Location details...
Westminster Lodge, Holywell Hill, St Albans AL1 2DL, 01727 736080
​
St Albans School, Abbey Mill Ln, St Albans AL3 4HB
SATURDAY
All ability basketball for adults. 7 till 8.45pm @ Westminster Lodge, . Pay at reception
SUNDAY
All ability women only. 1 till 2pm, at St Albans School, pay coach £5 (Starting in Jan 2020)
​
Teenager development. 2 till 4pm , @ St Albans School, pay coach £5
​
All ability teenagers. 5 till 6pm , @ Westminster Lodge, pay reception
MONDAY
No sessions
TUESDAY
No sessions
WEDNESDAY
​
Our most gentle and kind beginner session for 11 and below. 5 till 6 pm @ Westminster Lodge. Pay at reception
​
Our most gentle and kind beginner session for 20 to 70+. 7 till 8 pm @ Westminster Lodge. Pay at reception
THURSDAY
Under 11's all ability session. 4 till 5pm @ Westminster Lodge. Pay at reception
​
Under 14 all ability session. 5 till 6pm @ Westminster Lodge. Pay at reception
​
League level players (this is our most advanced session). Open to all players who have played in leagues and players our coaches say are ready for it. 8.30 till 10pm @ St Albans School. Pay coach £7.50, students £5. Free if not working
FRIDAY
No sessions
ANY QUESTIONS ARE WELCOME
About Jon Thorne
During his 5 years playing sports at Leeds Beckett University (Carnegie campus), Jon discovered that he was a little short in one or two of all the athletic abilities to make a top world class athlete. Not much, but enough to mean he would need a lot of luck, in terms of training and no injuries to make it. Jon also discovered that his best attribute is to read a game situation and think on his feet to find ways to turn an adverse situation to an advantage. This meant his best chance of being an international athlete was to play sports where his ability to read the game and think on his feet gave him the biggest advantage. But when he left Leeds he bumped into coaches who would drop him from the team as soon as he didn't follow instructions to the letter. He was disciplined for thinking on his feet. Especially when it worked.
​
Meanwhile, in Jon’s working life, he was discovering that employers valued his ability to think on his feet more than his technical qualifications. Jon developed a career turning around struggling multi-million pound projects doing something that had never been done before. Jon has never had a job that was being done by a predecessor. He is always the first. During this time the type of work Jon did became known as agile project management.
​
When Jon’s children were being harmed by following the educational pathway, Jon gave up his career to home educate. Jon based his children's education on learning in an agile way. Not learning by following a mapped out curriculum, but learning when the route forward is unclear. During this time Jon setup and grew St Albans Lions basketball club to over 300 players and coached at Kardale Netball club. He learnt how to combine his agile project management skills with his sports skills to coach agile thinking in sports. He created a new type of sports coach. An agile sports coach.
​