About London Basketball Association

Basketball is the game, social change is the mission.

The London Basketball Association is a registered charity, established in July 2012.

As a charity organisation, our mission is to inspire Londoners to develop a habit of getting involved with the conglomerate of basketball in order to benefit from it on many different levels.

To achieve this, we work to enhance the infrastructure of basketball, making the sport easily accessible to the masses.

We see sport as an integral part of the society, a practice that brings communities together, creates employment and growth opportunities within those communities, as well as helps to maintain the healthy lifestyle.

We recognised the potential for basketball to become a gateway to solving key social issues such as obesity, physical and mental health issues, substance misuse, unemployment, crime and postcode wars.

LBA brings positive social change to the most disadvantaged communities in London through the sport of basketball.

Accolades & Quality Assurance

Among many other awards, we have attained the “Active Westminster Club Mark” and “London Youth Gold Mark”, two prestigious seals of approval for our work within our communities.

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Be The Change!

MEET THE TEAM

TONY LAZARE

Founder

A persistent man who has a desire to help others through basketball and has done so ever since he left High School in the year 2000. With innovation and entrepreneuship running through his veins, Tony has developed a wide range of skills including policymaking, fundraising, coaching, management and technology. To mention some of his achievements he started his first business in 2007 and is one of the founders of London Greenhouse Pioneers Basketball Club.

Fuse all this together and LBA is born, well equipped and determined to improve people’s lives through basketball, Tony Lazare is making that change. As a young boy he was very sporty and understands the power of sport on an individual’s life.

Favourite quotes “Talent is very common, disciplined talent is very rare”. “Less is More”.

SARAH MCDERMOTT

Managing Director

A dedicated woman who has a passion for working with young people and has been for over 20 years in various capacities including youth and support work in and outside the schooling environment. The early 2000s allowed her to fall in love with coaching as she coached her university team whilst playing for Leicester.

Coming back to London, priding herself with great leadership and organisational skills, she had worked her way from being an extra curricular basketball coach in the borough of Wandsworth, to becoming the founder of Wandsworth Wolves Basketball Club. Sarah had managed approximately 13 teams in the club, where some players were very successful.

Sarah has been given the opportunity to take players over international waters to train at specialist camps in America due to her vast links with prestige players. From that she had been able to help players to get educational and sporting scholarships in the USA, Philippines and Europe to name a few. She understands the importance of supporting young people and enjoys seeing them striving for success. She has great management and project ideas to bring to the LBA table.

Favourite quotes “Only you can stop you!” “Practice makes permanent!”

Matthew Hanselman

Marketing Manager

Matthew is a committed and enthusiastic worker who takes on any problem with great stride.

Passionate about his sport, particularly basketball, Matthew has over several years’ experience in coaching basketball and rowing in Hong Kong, nurturing a love for sport among the youth there. He has witnessed firsthand how sport can draw the best out of each person through hard work, dedication, and thinking coherently as a team.

Flying over to the UK to study sports science at Durham University, Matthew represented the university basketball team and graduated in 2021.

He has now jumped into the basketball scene in London with the aim of contributing to the community. Matthew first started off working as one of our LBA marketing interns but with his hard work and eagerness, he became our head of marketing within a short time.

“I feel there is still a lot to learn and I’m always looking for a challenge. Carpe diem!”

Jose Miguel Bautista

Head of Information Technology

A young driven individual who grew up in the Philippines where basketball is the main sport. He spent a lot of his youth playing basketball with his friends and he quickly fell in love with the sport. He later got picked to play for his school team.

Jose’s journey with the LBA began back in 2018 where he initially did some volunteering experience work. The LBA quickly picked up on his great potential in the field of IT and was subsequently employed as an IT specialist.

BOARD OF AVENGERS

Bijan Hakimian

Spiderman

Bijan is currently working as a Senior Policy Advisor for the UK Government, specialising in international trade. He holds an undergraduate degree from SOAS, University of London and then a master’s degree from the University of Cambridge, specialising in Middle Eastern politics. Bijan has been actively involved in the London basketball community since he began playing the game at age 10 in Haringey. Having coached for the LBA at summer camps and half term camps, he then went onto to serve as Head Coach for Edmonton and Hackney U14 teams for the London School of Basketball. At university, he was captain of the SOAS Men’s Team and was the Women’s Team Head Coach.

His favourite basketball player is Chris Paul. Bijan agrees with Chris who embodies the school of thought that if you “hate losing more than you love winning” you can really unlock your athletic potential. Bijan says that “You can’t be a good point guard without being able to take a step back and see the game like a coach”.

Akay Mustafa

Doctor Strange

Akay holds the Master’s degree in Sports Management from Birkbeck, University of London. Currently, he is the Athletic Director at American School in London and he has worked in education and sport for many years. He believes that his work as an athletic director requires him to be a strategic project manager capable of keeping multiple stakeholders happy. He wishes to bring those skills to the LBA, in order to help shape the strategy needed which will allow the group to continue to progress. Steve Nash is Akay’s favorite basketball player, He likes him because…” he had an incredible vision but most importantly he was a brave player. To summarize he just made things happen in ways you didn’t think were possible.”

Tony Windless

An American retired professional basketball player with a notable career stretching over a decade in the British Basketball League. He also played professionally in France for 4 seasons. From Memphis, Tennessee, United States, Windless studied at Cowley County Community College and played small forward position. Tony won every team trophy possible and has conquered almost everything he has encountered in his career. There aren’t too many opponents who can say they’ve bettered the boy from Tennessee. One of his ex-teams Leicester Riders posed the question in an article “So what now for the man who has lived and breathed basketball ever since he was 7 years old?” A shift to developing the sport of basketball, he has been coaching for a long time now even still during his playing days. But now at LBA he will be able to affect more people by bringing the experience and knowledge of the industry and leading by example to help guide the company in the best direction for the greater good of all.

Lauren Jade Bailey

A hardworking, proactive and enthusiastic individual. Lauren Jade Bailey is a graduate from Queen Mary University in Economics, Geography and Business. Possessing a range of experience including consultant, manager and director roles. She is extremely involved in the community, demonstrated by her work in the Westminster City Council as the Social Value Manager, Croydon Council as Project Consultant and South Kilburn Trust as Head of Enterprise and Employment and Strategic Lead Contractor. Additionally, she has volunteered as a Progression Mentor with the Princes Trust. These experiences depict her enthusiasm to add value to young people’s lives by providing them with skills, training and employment and her ability to establish relationships with key stakeholders. A quote she believes in is “Life takes on meaning when you become motivated, set goals and charge after them in an unstoppable manner.” She has strong leadership, communication and time management skills which are an asset to our team.

Ron Mushiso

A well-rounded individual with over 10 years of experience in coaching. He is extremely passionate about sport and takes an initiative to bring about positive change to the community. He is a graduate from St. Mary’s University College, Surrey. Ron is an athletic man who teaches P.E. at St. Benedict’s School and is appointed head coach at Old Emmanuel Rugby club. Furthermore, he is a councillor for Turnham Green, representing the conservatives. He strongly believes in the importance of the community supporting in adversity. Ron advocates for youth services funding and healthy lifestyle choices. He aims to provide the best opportunities and results for our students. One quote he concurs with is ‘in order to achieve positive results one must work for them, not just hope for them.’ Ron believes in resilience, dedication and discipline.

TROPHIES

Active Westminster Awards 2021

Change4Life Award – Shortlisted Finalist

This award recognises projects which have made a difference to children, young people (under 18) or families health and wellbeing through physical activity.

OneYou Westminster Award – Shortlisted Finalist

This award recognises projects which have made a difference to adults’ health and wellbeing through physical activity, leading to making long-term improvements to their lifestyle.

Rewarding & Celebrating Diversity Award – Shortlisted Finalist

This award recognises individuals, clubs, projects, and facilities that create and deliver diversity and equality activities for Westminster’s diverse communities and demographics.

London Sport Awards

The celebration of the best of physical activity and sport in London.
We did not win it, but we were recognised as the Club of the Year without Honourable Mention in 2018.

London Youth Awards

Supporting and challenging young people to become the best they can be through hundreds of diverse community youth organisations and two residential centres.
Community Champion 2018 awarded to Tony Lazare recognising 10 years of outstanding dedication and commitment to voluntary youth work in London.

South Kilburn Enterprise Awards 2017

South Kilburn Trust’s first-ever Enterprise Awards took place on the 28th February 2017 at South Kilburn Studios.
The event celebrated the success of business and enterprise in South Kilburn, rounding off a month-long programme of business-focused events, workshops and activities which took place in South Kilburn as part of Love Business Month.