Essex Rebels named best gameday in the UK

The Essex Rebels have won the prestigious ‘Best Gameday Experience Award’ from Basketball’s national governing body.

The prestigious gong comes just weeks after the Essex Arena hosted an incredible 1,505 cheering supporters on International Women’s Day, setting a record in the Women’s British Basketball League.

And this also followed an incredible two-day festival of women’s basketball in January that saw the U.K.’s top teams descend on The University of Essex for a thrilling tournament.

Following these achievements in the women’s game, Basketball England has now awarded the Essex Rebels the prize for the men’s National Basketball League 1, highlighting the “great atmosphere” and popular performances that have wowed crowds.

Dr Dave Parry, Director of Sport, has thanked his team for the storming season and is already planning on how to improve it for next year.

He said: “It is a tremendous honour to have been awarded the best gameday experience award by Basketball England.

 “We have been continuously developing and refining our entertainment package around our game day for the past few seasons so that the experience of coming to watch the Essex Rebels is so much more than just a basketball game.

“This year we have also firmly positioned our game days at the heart of the campus experience for our students, and have very successfully launched a new supporters club called ‘The Tribe’, a first of its kind in the UK.

“With over 900 members, and led by an enthusiastic student committee who have organised a range of social events away from game days, the Tribe has become a new social opportunity for our students to forge friendships alongside supporting our teams.

And added: “Front and centre of our game days is our very own, and best-in-the-business, Stan Kadzunge, alongside the famous Nate ‘Big Dog Ballin’ Syrett, but our game days are a big team effort, with the whole Essex Sport team pulling together to put on something really special each week, and my congratulations and thanks go to the team behind the team.”