The Sussex Bears are an English
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
club, based in the town of
Lancing, West Sussex
Lancing is a large coastal village and civil parish in the Adur district of West Sussex, England, on the western edge of the Adur Valley. It occupies part of the narrow central section of the Sussex coastal plain between smaller Sompting to the ...
.
History
The Bears were formed in 2014. Former
Worthing Thunder
The Worthing Thunder are an English professional basketball team based in Worthing, West Sussex. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball League (NBL). Founded in 1999 as the Worthing Rebels after the Worthing Bears had relocated to Bri ...
coach and local basketball legend Gary Smith was brought in to lead the club as chairman and first team coach, and with him he brought a number of former Thunder players to form the nucleus of the new team.
The Bears' name is not a new one to basketball in the area - the
Brighton Bears
Brighton Bears was a British basketball team based in Brighton, Sussex. From 1984 to 1999 the club was known as the Worthing Bears and was based in the town of Worthing, 12 miles west of Brighton. The Bears played in the top-flight British Bask ...
played in the top-flight
BBL
A barrel is one of several units of volume applied in various contexts; there are dry barrels, fluid barrels (such as the U.K. beer barrel and U.S. beer barrel), oil barrels, and so forth. For historical reasons the volumes of some barrel units ...
for many years until their final season in 2006.
The 'new' club has since developed rapidly, increasing the number of men's, women's and youth teams representing under the Bears' name. The Bears have also risen through the divisions of the
English Basketball League
The National Basketball League, or NBL for short, is a league competition representing semi-professional and amateur basketball clubs from England and Wales. It forms levels 2 to 4 on the British basketball pyramid, in line with the Scottish B ...
, reaching their current position in Division 2 in 2017.
Honours
:Men's National Shield: 2016-17
:Men's National Development League South: 2015-16
Teams
For the 2019-20 season, the Bears will field the following teams:
:Senior Men - National League Division 2 South
:U18 Boys - National League U18 Premier South
:U16 Boys - National League U16 Premier South
:U14 Boys - National League U14 Premier South
:U14 Girls - National League U14 Regional
:U16 Boys II - National League U16 Conference South
:U14 Boys II - National League U14 Conference South
:U12 Mixed - National League U12 Regional
:Senior Men II - Local League
:Senior Women - Local League
:U16 Boys III - Local League
:U14 Boys III - Local League
:U12 - Local League
:U11 - Local League
:Wheelchair - division 2 south National league
:Wheelchair - division 3 south east National league
:Wheelchair - division 4
Home Venue
The Bears are based at the
Sir Robert Woodard Academy in Lancing.
Season-by-season records
References
{{English Basketball League
Basketball teams in England
Sport in West Sussex
Basketball teams established in 2014
2014 establishments in England