A charity that began life with an impromptu basketball session in a park nine years ago has won a prestigious award.

The highly coveted honour was announced at a star-studded awards evening hosted by comedian Stephen Frost at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel.

The charity was also chosen as winner of the Children and Youth category because of the impact that its Carry A Basketball Not A Blade (CABNAB) initiative has had on young people and the local community in east London.

The overall Charity of the Year was then selected from the 10 category winners. For NASSA it is the highest possible praise for the work that began with an impromptu basketball coaching session in an east London park in 2005.

Natasha Hart, NASSA founder, said: “We are used to winning on the basketball court but we could never have imagined winning off it in such a manner. This award is for everyone connected with NASSA – our wonderful coaches, our dedicated volunteers, the parents who entrust us with their children, the community partners who support us, our patron, Stephen Timms, MP for East Ham and, of course, our young people. They are the reason we do what we do and they have achieved so much.”

The basketball charity, which is based in Factory Road, Silvertown offers the young people of Newham the opportunity to become active in sport, to play basketball on both a recreational and competitive basis and to increase awareness locally about the dangers of knife crime. It works at Rokeby School in Canning Town, Cumberland School in Plaistow and the SportsDock at the University of East London.