'I use basketball to help youth mental health'

A former PE teacher has won an award for his work in supporting young people with their mental health through basketball.

Kieran Joseph, 30, left his job when the Covid pandemic hit and came up with the idea for Guardian Ballers while stacking shelves in a factory.

"I dreamed up a way of helping young people by providing safe spaces to talk," he says. "My vision was a basketball with angel wings."

The Coventry-based service is now five years old and has helped hundreds engage with sport while addressing their mental wellbeing.

Mr Joseph worked with Coventry Mind to access early funding and started delivering sessions within a few weeks of the end of the second lockdown.

The not-for-profit works with schools, charities and communities to educate and help those between 10 and 25 make a difference in their local area.

"My passion for Guardian Ballers is to see happy and healthy young people," he says.

He has since worked across the country and started to offer professional coaching and away days for businesses. He also now manages a small team of staff.

Last month, the organisation's work was recognised with the not-for-profit champion award at the Coventry & Warwickshire Business and Community Awards 2025.

One of his success stories is Dom, 17, whose dad died during the pandemic.

"It would have been very easy for me to go down the wrong path. Guardian Ballers helped me realise that there are people there for me to talk to," Dom says.

Mr Joseph remembers Dom, like other youngsters he was helping, hiding behind protective masks in early sessions.

He worked with the teenager's teachers to help him "process his emotions in a safe space and teach healthy coping mechanisms".

"I sat in a room with his head teacher a year or two later and I remember that moment where [Dom] told the head teacher, 'Guardian Ballers helped me process the grief of losing my dad,'" he says.

"I am proud to say he is now a young leader at Guardian Ballers and helps other young people. It is a full circle moment."

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