HOOPSFIX FOUNDATION - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Director
- Special Olympic Coach
Natalie is a chartered psychologist specialising in developing subjective health and well-being through targeted intervention. She has worked across high performance sport and higher education for over 10 years, and is currently based at the University of Gloucester as a Senior Lecturer.
A sports academic, a leadership consultant and a published author, Natalie is also a volunteer Special Olympic coach and a trustee.
Within sport, she has worked as a performance psychologist and a performance lifestyle coach for a number of national athletes, teams and squads, primarily in her role with the English Institute of Sport for almost 5 years. Within higher education, she specialises in teaching on Sport & Exercise Science degrees, with a particular focus on social psychology, athlete wellbeing and mental health, developing cultures of care, and team dynamics.
A former player, Natalie has played at Thames Valley Tigers, Reading Rockets, Plymouth Raiders, BUCS, and London Westside, whilst also being a Level 2 Basketball England qualified coach. She hung up her boots when she moved to Bath and had her 2 daughters.
Faith is a Brunel University graduate with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and a Master's degree in Design and Branding Strategy, who went on to pursue her career in Technology and building exciting digital products.
With a near decade of experience across digital teams in the capacity of a Developer, Scrum Master, Software Tester, and now a Product Manager, Faith has been responsible for and/or been a part of the development team for many successful digital products and has also received recognition in her field after being shortlisted for the UK eCommerce Rising Star Award (2019).
Faith has been involved in basketball for the last 15 years as a Coach, Team Manager, Referee, Table Official, Statistician, and player at all levels in the U.K (WBBL, NBL, Local league).
Faith continuously supports the growth of basketball in this country by offering her knowledge, skillset, and the general helping hand to clubs within the community and to community basketball events including our very own Hoopsfix All-Star Classic.
Faith's knowledge and experience will contribute to the foundation through input on all technology-focused projects, advising on user interface and user experience, technologies, product, and development cycles.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Brand Consultant and Founder of First Five Marketing
Richard is a brand consultant and founder of First Five Marketing, with over 14 years cross-functional experience in the sports industry.
The founder and owner of Hoopsfix and Cut The Net, Sam has been deeply entrenched in the British basketball scene for over a decade running the UK's largest basketball media platform.
Having produced British basketball content that has been consumed by millions of people, Sam is at the cutting edge of content creation, media, digital, and social, adding the Hoopsfix Foundation as a not-for-profit arm of Hoopsfix in 2014 in an effort to give back and grow the game.
Steve Nelson, a former England international and professional basketball player of 15 years, is Chief Executive of the West of England Sport Trust (Wesport),
Previously head of development for England Basketball, he has created the County Sports Partnership for Sussex, and Wesport and has held numerous non-executive roles in the sport, culture and voluntary sectors.
Steve works regularly at a national level within the Active Partnerships network, and in his voluntary roles. He is a member of the Sport Think Tank Advisory Group, an independent network dedicated to thorough and insightful thinking around sporting policy in the UK. Steve has also worked on a consultancy basis for UK Sport as part of the International Inspiration programme, working in India and Trinidad and Tobago.
Outside of work, he has been a volunteer basketball coach at regional, county, and junior national league level, with his team crowned under 18 men's national champions in 2011. He has developed and supported more than a dozen players that have gone on to represent England or GB, including his son and daughter, Luke and Kyla, both of whom are GB Senior internationals.