Basketball team BiG Storage Cheshire Jets has teamed up with the university to offer a foundation degree in Sports Coaching (Basketball).

The two-year degree will start in September at the Warrington campus with 25 places available.

It will be just one of a small number of courses offered throughout the UK in basketball coaching where students will be given an opportunity to develop their coaching skills alongside professional coaches and players, and will help out with spreading basketball to schools across Cheshire.

Work-based learning will also form a key part of the degree and will be facilitated by BiG Storage Cheshire Jets as an integral part of their community projects and wider business activity.

Andrew Donaldson, partner of BiG Storage based on Sealand Road, who came up with the initial idea for the foundation degree last year, said: "Since our sponsorship of the Jets last year it soon became apparent to me that a number of our best young basketball players were leaving the country to go and study basketball in the US, as there were few other options for them in the UK.

"Not anymore. We all hope this degree will not only attract potential elite Great Britain future players but also attract people looking for a basketball coaching career.

"We even hope that a couple of the students may make it on to the bench of the BiG Storage Cheshire Jets next season."

He added: "Special thanks must go to the University of Chester team, who with the Jets' help, have put a fantastic course together within a very challenging time frame."

Professor Sarah Andrew, Dean of Applied and Health Sciences at the Cheyney Road university, said: "The university views this as the beginning of a long-term partnership with BiG Storage Cheshire Jets.

"The Foundation Degree will be located at the university's Warrington campus and will provide an opportunity to develop further the already excellent sports facilities at the site.

"It will join the existing suite of Foundation Degrees in Sport and Exercise Sciences to be based at Warrington.

"Last week, the campus was visited by Keith Mair, chief executive of England Basketball, and he declared the partnership to be unique in the UK."