• Home
• News

17 October 2026  8 min read

GB Basketball: We want a system that is truly connected - McSweeney

Appointed to the role in August on an initial eight-month secondment from UK Sport, McSweeney has stepped into a pivotal period for the GB Basketball programme, with responsibility for providing strategic leadership across the senior and age-group national teams in both 5v5 and 3x3.

His immediate focus is clear - establish the foundations for a connected, ambitious and sustainable programme, while ensuring Great Britain’s teams are equipped to compete and progress on the international stage.

“I’ve absolutely loved it,” McSweeney said of his opening weeks in the role. “It’s been great to get involved and I’m very grateful to everybody who has extended their time generously to help me settle into my role.

“It has been a busy few weeks, as one might expect, and I’ve definitely jumped in at the deep end to try and build the programme in the right way, but it has been very enjoyable.”

Andy McSweeney was in Newcastle last month to see GB Men beat Slovakia

Building the programme

McSweeney’s initial remit encompasses the full breadth of the GB Basketball performance programme, from the senior national teams through to the age-group pathway and across both 5v5 and 3x3.

Alongside leading the performance programme, he is also contributing to the wider consultation currently taking place around the future structure and governance of basketball in Great Britain.

For now, however, his priority is ensuring the national teams have the foundations required to move forward with confidence.

“My remit is to lead the performance programme for the next eight months initially, across the 5v5 and 3x3 game at senior and age-group level for Great Britain Basketball,” he explained.

“I’m also playing a role in the wider consultation that’s happening around the future of the programme and the structure, but in the immediate term my focus is on ensuring our National Team programmes are building in the right direction with confidence and have the right infrastructure behind them to support their aims.”

A key part of that work will be understanding what can be learned from the summer and turning those lessons into tangible improvements for the next international cycle.

“The first thing I want us to achieve is to have a solid structure around the programme,” McSweeney said.

“This time of year is where we review a lot of the infrastructure that is around our teams, but particularly the age groups, and we really want to learn lessons from the summer and plot out how we can make tangible improvements for the next cycle.”

That process, he stressed, will not happen in isolation.

McSweeney has already begun engaging with the Home Nations, professional leagues and wider basketball community, recognising the collective effort required to deliver a successful GB programme.

“I am very grateful to all our stakeholders, from the Home Nations to the professional leagues and the members of our community more generally who came together to make the summer’s programmes happen,” he said.

“We are committed to learning lessons from the summer and making significant progress.”

GB Men went 2-0 in their August EuroBasket 2029 Pre-Qualifying window with wins over Switzerland and Slovakia

Supporting the people already leading the way

McSweeney will work closely with GB Basketball’s three Heads of Basketball - Alice Hamilton (3x3), Dan Clark (Men) and Dominique Allen (Women).

Rather than seeking to duplicate their responsibilities, McSweeney sees his role as one of support, alignment and creating the conditions for those programmes to succeed.

“I feel very lucky to have the three Heads of Basketball in place and delivering for the good of the game at GB level,” he said.

“Alice, Dan and Dom are steeped in the culture of the sport at a UK and global level and what they’re doing in each of their respective areas is fantastic work.

“I’m not here to get in their way. I want them to be as successful as possible and lead their programmes in their own way. I’m here to support that as best I can and I’m excited to work with them to take the sport forward.”

That collaborative approach will be central to McSweeney’s vision for the programme - one where the different parts of British basketball are connected by a shared ambition and clear direction.

Ambition across 5v5 and 3x3

There is no shortage of opportunity on the court.

The senior Women’s team continues its journey towards EuroBasket 2027, while the Men’s programme has its sights set on the 2029 cycle. Meanwhile, the 3x3 programme is pursuing a pathway to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games and building the foundations towards Brisbane 2032.

McSweeney believes the performances of GB teams in recent months have demonstrated the potential that exists across the programme.

“At a senior level the women have some big games coming up as we build towards EuroBasket 2027 as do the men for 2029,” he said.

“We’ve seen just how talented our teams are and the fantastic performances they’re capable of delivering, which is exciting for our fans moving forward.

“Then in terms of 3x3, qualification for the Olympics in 2028 is still a very realistic possibility, so we’ve got to get after that and continue building on the work that has already been done.”

The ambition, however, extends beyond individual competitions.

“Overall, what I’d like for us to have at the end of this six months is a system that is truly connected, that is ambitious and has a vision and a route to deliver a really exciting future for British Basketball.”

‘We want to be open in everything we do’

For McSweeney, building that future is about more than performance on the court.

Communication, transparency and accountability will also be fundamental to how he believes GB Basketball must operate.

“It is absolutely vital that we are transparent about our progress and accountable to our stakeholders,” he said.

“We can’t do enough in terms of connecting the people that are living and breathing this sport every day with the bigger structural things that are happening in the background.”

McSweeney acknowledges that communication has not always been as consistent as it could have been, and sees an opportunity to establish a clearer and more regular dialogue across the basketball community.

“I’ve been hearing loud and clear coming into the role that this kind of communication has been done well in pockets in the past, but not consistently, so we really want to have a more consistent voice so that everyone who loves this sport feels as connected to and as informed about the future of it as is possible.”

That means engaging with the full breadth of the basketball ecosystem - from the Home Nations and professional leagues to FIBA, UK Sport, Sport England, partners, athletes, coaches, staff and, ultimately, the fans.

“We want them to have belief, and we understand that in places trust is something that we need to rebuild and help people feel connected to the future of the game, but overall visibility is key,” McSweeney said.

“We want to be connected to all our partners in every part of the game, so I can pledge that we will be open in everything we do moving forward and available to be communicated with.”

There will inevitably be difficult decisions along the way, McSweeney accepts, and not every decision will satisfy every stakeholder.

But he is clear about the principle that will sit behind them.

“We might not always agree, sometimes we will have to make tough decisions to move forward and we can’t always keep everybody happy, but I can assure everybody that any decisions we make will always be with the best for the future of British basketball at the heart of our decision-making.”

For McSweeney, then, the immediate task is one of building - building structure, building connections and building belief.

And while the next six months represent an important starting point, the ambition is considerably longer-term: to create a GB Basketball programme that is united by a clear vision and capable of delivering an exciting future for the sport.

Get ticket for GB Women v Ukraine and Luxembourg

More GB News