Balderstone Sports Institute

We love to partner with people and institutions who share our passion for growing sport ❤️

🏀 Eagles Basketball League is the latest such partnership and we are delighted to be assisting this amazing club league. The 2026 EBL season has reached the playoff stage this weekend.

If you have a son or daughter who is talented and passionate about basketball then we’d love to talk to you about our full-time high school basketball academy with schooling, strength & conditioning, sports psychology and on-court training 5 days a week.

January enrolment is open, with a limited number of bursaries available for high performers through the Balderstone Foundation.

Don’t let their talent go to waste. Contact [email protected] for more information.

Early specialization in sport will likely put a ceiling on your child’s potential and increase the chances of injury, burnout and quitting.

The science and research is very clear on this. Unless your child competes at gymnastics, diving or figure skating they should be encouraged to play multiple sports until around 13/14.

This is why we don’t have a primary school and don’t take student-athletes full-time until grade 8. We turn a lot of business away from younger age groups but when it comes to the futures of our children we will put their long-term best interests over income.

Too many parents buy into the fallacy that their child will get left behind if they don’t specialize early. It’s simply not true and will actually hinder their long-term potential and chances of longevity in their chosen sport.

Too many sports parents get this wrong 🚨

And it’s understandable. As parents it’s easy to get carried away with the emotions of our children’s sports. We hear stories of tough parenting producing champions. But those cases are such outliers, when the majority of kids give up sport due to not enjoying it anymore.

If your child is playing with fear, it’s likely to be the fear of the expected consequences of failure.

What do they expect from you as parents when they win or lose? It will be based on your previous reactions.

Bring those two reactions closer together and you have a great chance of your child playing with more freedom, which should optimize performance.

Michael Balderstone (BSI Founder)