What Young People Actually Need: Lessons from a Basketball Court in Wandsworth

When we asked young people what would help them prepare for adult life, they didn't hold back. Their answers are shaping everything we do.

When you ask young people what they need, you have to ask them in the right place. Not in an office. Not in a meeting room. Not through a form that arrives in the post. You have to go where they already are, in a space where they feel comfortable, and make it easy for them to be honest.

That's why, in February 2026, we took our consultation to a basketball court.

The event

The Jimmy Asher Foundation CIC runs free community basketball competitions for young people in south London. Their Free B2B Half-Term Competition in the London Borough of Wandsworth brought together girls and boys aged 14 to 19 for a day of competitive basketball - free to attend, open to all, and buzzing with energy.

We partnered with the Foundation to embed a simple consultation within the event. Between games, while eating, while waiting for their next match, young people were asked one question: what sessions would you actually turn up to?

We gave them 10 options covering the key areas of transition to adulthood - money, cooking, employment, education, wellbeing, rights, independent living, social connection, family support, and one-to-one mentoring - plus a blank space to suggest anything we hadn't thought of.

Thirty-five young people responded. They gave us 79 responses in total - an average of more than two choices each, demonstrating genuine, considered engagement rather than rushed ticking. And those responses are now shaping every programme we design.

What they told us

The results were striking. Not because they were surprising - but because they confirmed, in young people's own choices, exactly what 35 years of social work practice has shown us.

Money came first. Twenty percent of every response we collected went to money and budgeting workshops. More than three times the demand for wellbeing sessions. More than eight times the demand for family workshops. When young people aged 14 to 19 are given a free choice of 10 different types of support, one in five of them says: teach me how to manage my money.

Cooking came second. Fourteen percent of responses went to cooking skills sessions - learning to make proper meals on a budget and eating what you make. Together with money management, practical life skills accounted for over a third of everything young people asked for.

They're thinking about their futures. Education and training advice was the third highest priority, followed closely by living independently. These young people aren't just thinking about next week. They're thinking about what comes next in their lives - courses, apprenticeships, their own place - and they want structured help to figure it out.

They want community. Social events and meet-ups attracted strong interest, and when we gave young people a blank space to suggest literally anything, six of them wrote the same thing: more basketball. Nobody prompted that. Nobody suggested it. Young people independently told us that free community sport is something they need more of.

What this means for us

These findings go straight into the foundation of our programme design. We're not building services based on what we think young people need. We're building them based on what young people have told us, in their own words, in their own space.

Our first programmes will lead with money management and cooking skills - the two areas where demand was strongest. We'll deliver them in community settings, not classrooms, because the consultation told us that young people engage when the environment feels right. We'll embed wellbeing and confidence-building across everything we do rather than separating it into a standalone session, because the data suggests young people want emotional support woven into practical activity, not labelled and set apart.

And we'll keep consulting. This was one event, one cohort, one community. We'll be at more events, in more boroughs, asking more young people - including those who are care-experienced, autistic, or living with learning disabilities - what they need from us.

Why the setting mattered

We could have run this consultation in a dozen different ways. We could have sent surveys. We could have held focus groups. We could have asked professionals what they think young people need.

Instead, we went to a basketball competition. And it worked - because the Jimmy Asher Foundation had already done the hard part. They'd created an event that young people wanted to attend. They'd built an atmosphere of trust, energy, and belonging. They'd removed every barrier - no cost, no sign-up, no stigma - and filled the space with something positive.

That's the environment where young people open up. Not because you ask them to, but because they feel safe enough to choose to.

We're grateful to the Jimmy Asher Foundation for welcoming us into their event and for their commitment to young people in Wandsworth. Partnerships like this - where grassroots community organisations and specialist support providers work together - are how we reach the young people who need us most.

The numbers at a glance

Elevate Care Insights CIC is a specialist Community Interest Company supporting young people and vulnerable adults through the transition to adulthood. Our evidence-based Charting Your Path programme covers 10 developmental areas and is delivered directly to young people and families, through training for the wider support network, and via consultancy to providers and commissioners.

If you're a community organisation, commissioner, or funder interested in working with us, we'd love to hear from you.

If you're a young person reading this - thank you. Your voice is building something real.

See what we do at www.ElevateCareInsights.com

Email Jimmy Asher at [email protected]