The club is made up of one men’s team in partnership with Rhyce Donegal that plays in Pool V of the NBL’s Conference League, one women’s team that plays in the London Metropolitan Basketball League and a men’s team in the United London Basketball League.
But the club is known for much more than just bringing people together to play ball, it also encourages its members to donate blood.
LDN Phoenix co-founder Louis Genus-Rhoden knew of the impact blood donation can have the lives of others and told his clubmates about his experience.
Intrigued, men’s head coach and co-founder Lucy Martinez Sabri suggested that she and other members of the club could accompany Genus-Rhoden the next time he planned to donate because like many people, she had always wanted to donate but had put it off.
“I wanted to give it a go but it was something I didn't want to do on my own either. I think it's quite daunting to go on your own, so I just asked [Genus-Rhoden] to tell me the next time he was going to go, we set a date, and we went,” said Martinez Sabri who is a graduate coach from the London Coaches Program, run in collaboration by BE, the London Mayor’s Office and the NBA.
“A couple months ago, I donated for the second time. I brought my sister along too, which was her first time and there was someone else from our club who has been donating for years.
“It's just nice, because it's not something that comes up in conversation that often. We didn’t know that Elisabetta was an avid donor, donating plasma, as well as blood. That was around her 58th donation (50 in Italy and eight in the UK).
“It was just incredible seeing the differences between us – my second time, my sister's first, Louis had gone a few times – it helped us realise that we can get a group together, support each other and do something great.”
This summer, the NHS Blood and Transplant Unit (NHSBT) issued an Amber Alert due a severe shortfall in O negative and O positive blood supplies, highlighting the urgent need for blood donations to support patients in need of critical care, including those undergoing surgeries, sickle cell and cancer treatment or childbirth.
Recently, Basketball England and NHSBT announced a working partnership to help tackle health inequalities through education and information on blood donation, including on Sickle Cell and highlighting how the disorder is particularly common in people with an African and/or Caribbean family background and the need for more donors to combat it.
In fact, the NHS needs 140,000 first-time donors, including 12,000 new donors with Black heritage.
Martinez Sabri, who is a social and digital producer for Euroleague Basketball, is one of those new donors who found out her blood can help people with sickle cell.
“One of the positives from donating was finding out my blood type and I've got a subtype that helps people with sickle cell.
“I was so happy and relieved to hear that, and it motivates me even more to donate blood, because I know they're always looking for ethnic minorities, especially Black people, to donate.”
There are 25 permanent blood donation centres across the UK, with most appointments for donors in Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, and London.
LDN Phoenix will next be paying their nearest donation centre in Shepherd’s Bush a visit around Christmas time, with around 10 from the club ready to do their bit for the NHS and potentially save lives.
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