Leagues B.League Location Hyogo Prefecture Founded 2011 | History 2011-present Head coach Yasutoku Ueda Championships 1 | |
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Arena Nishinomiya City Central Gymnasium (Capacity: 2,000) Ownership Athlete Green Hyogo Co., Ltd. Profiles | ||
The Nishinomiya Storks (西宮ストークス) are a professional basketball team based in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan that competes in the Japanese B.League .
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History
The club was formed in 2011 as the Hyogo Storks (兵庫ストークス） and entered the second division of the Japan Basketball League (JBL2) in the 2011-12 season, finishing with a record of 17 wins and 10 losses. The club was JBL2 league champions in the 2012-13 season with a record of 27 wins and 5 losses, which was the final season of the league before it was reformed as the National Basketball Development League. The club’s success in the 2012-13 season earned it promotion to the first division of the JBL, which was reformed as the NBL for the 2013-2014 season.
On 16 July 2015 the Storks announced an agreement with the City of Nishinomiya that will see the team based in the city and the name changed to the Nishinomiya Storks. The decision is also one move aimed at the club securing a position in the new Japan Professional Basketball League that will commence in the autumn of 2016.
Home arena
During the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons, the Hyogo Storks played approximately half of their home games at the Kobe Central Gymnasium in the Chuo Ward of Kobe. As the team was officially based within Hyogo Prefecture (and not Kobe city), it played home games at various towns within the prefecture.
For the 2015-2016 season, the Nishinomiya Storks will play about 40% of their home games (around ten) at the Nishinomiya City Central Gymnasium.