'BASKETBALL may have a low profile in sport in this country compared to football and rugby, but nowhere is it bigger at junior level than in the Chester and Ellesmere Port areas.
And while the professional game is having a bit of a dip at the moment, mainly because of the lack of television exposure, the sport's popularity in schools is going to be one of the main reasons I believe basketball will come back strongly.
The game is third in the popularity stakes in schools around this area and the Jets can take a lot of credit for that, thanks to people like our director and assistant coach Mike Burton who has done so much to promote it in schools, and Jimmy McGinn who has turned Ellesmere Port Panthers into one of the leading junior teams in the country.
Unfortunately, the infrastructure beyond the schools is not yet in place to take the sport further in this country, and it may be a year or two yet before it starts to take off.
The bad news for the professional game was the loss of three teams in the last few years - Manchester Giants, Derby Storm and most recently Essex Leopards. This is not a good trend and there is no doubt the BBL needs to replace them.
But the good news is that talks are ongoing to get basketball back on our television screens.
There is also dialogue with Sky Sports and I am confident that before too long we should see our game back on television regularly, which would be great for the clubs financially and to give basketball a higher profile.
Even then, though, it won't be a bed of roses for the likes of Jets. Although we have good crowds at the Northgate Arena, it really isn't big enough for the amount of fans we hope to attract one day.
The cities of Sheffield, Birmingham and London have several good venues at their disposal, but in Chester we only have the Arena.
Even so, we have no intention of taking the franchise elsewhere.'
