About Us
OFFICIAL GREAT BRITAIN NATIONAL MASTERS TEAMS PROGRAMME
Who We Are
GB Maxibasketball is the official governing body national teams programme for male and female players aged 35+ to 60+ years of age.
The programme was originally established towards the end of the 2017/18 basketball season to encourage former high level players back into basketball, and to provide the opportunity for some of these players to ultimately represent their country on the international stage.
The GB Maxibasketball programme produced the first ever British basketball teams to compete on a World Maxibasketball stage. Two female teams travelled to Espoo, Helsinki – Finland’s capital city – to compete in the 15th FIMBA World Maxibasketball Championships 2019. They represented Great Britain in the 40+ and 50+ competition categories, with their 50+ team achieving a world championship 4th place medal. Nicknamed ‘GB Maxis’, their success had led to the expansion of the programme during 2020 and we now organise male and female teams to compete in internationally recognised World and European maxibasketball championships.
In December 2020, the GB Maxibasketball programme was recognised by Basketball England for its excellence in providing a performance environment for teams operating at high level, when it was included in the Basketball England Talent Pathway for elite players. The ‘Talent Pathway’ contains four tiers of progression and showcases the various stages of development for basketball players from the age of 11 through to senior GB representation. For the first time ever, the pathway has been extended to include GB representation at maxibasketball level, and working with Basketball England, Basketball Scotland and Basketball Wales, GB Maxibasketball delivered the first ever Tri-Nations 35+ Masters event at the National Basketball Performance Centre in Manchester in June 2024.
Following the world governing body (FIBA) landmark recognition of the age category in December 2025, the home nation governing bodies have aligned to recognise the masters age group as integral to its basketball community, and has taken the formal decision to include it in the Great Britain national teams performance pathway.
GB Maxibasketball is now coordinating official masters teams within the Great Britain performance pathway.
The graphic here shows the IOC recognised basketball organisations for the running game (i.e non-wheelchair), and the European and World competitions they organise at all age groups from U16 to Masters. FIBA also runs 3×3 competitions.Â
The governing bodies in Britain are also shown as well as the GB national teams from U16 to Seniors and Masters national teams; we are honoured to coordinate the GB National Masters teams on behalf of our governing bodies as signaled by the GB Maxibasketball (red, white and blue ball) icon.
On the domestic front, we know that a good number of older players stop playing in local leagues because they no longer wish to compete against players that are half-their age and twice their speed. We are aware that social masters basketball groups already exist, but there is also a huge untapped demand in many areas. So if your community group or club is running masters basketball sessions, let us know and we will help signpost players accordingly.
