Blacktop Tales | Season 2 | Episode 10 | Huncho Stan | Pondfield Park
It's a grim Tuesday morning in London—heavy clouds, drizzle, District Line, eastbound. I step off at Dagenham East, where grey concrete extends beyond the station's platforms, out to the long streets of RM10 and beyond the fences of Pondfield Park.
I do my usual routine: arriving earlier than the featured subject to get some shots of the court and surrounding environment. The court’s challenges, combined with the gloomy weather, put a literal dampener on my mood. The uneven surface makes puddles deceptively deep, so my Jordan 11s (always a solid choice in wet weather) get unexpectedly bathed in gritty rainwater—multiple times. Some parts of the concrete have grassy patches big enough to be muddy, making it treacherous for any nutter peering through a viewfinder instead of watching their step.
After getting the shots I need, a car rolls up. The unmistakable Stan Kadzunge, better known as 'Huncho Stan,' jumps out and greets me from over the fence through the drizzle: "You made it to Dagenham, bruv!" Instant energy, instant vibes. For me, the court is a reminder of the UK's below-par basketball facilities. For Stan, it’s a reminder of long, hot summers playing until the nearby public pathway lights came on, offering just enough glow to keep hooping after dark. Its imperfections recall memories of discovering the sport through a Filipino classmate in secondary school and developing an appreciation for the excitement of the game by watching Blake Griffin and the 'Lob-City' Clippers of the 2010s.
As a teenager, Stan loved school. He was bright, intelligent, and excelled in a number of subjects—both academically and creatively. Though being an all-rounder sometimes left him feeling like he didn’t fit into any one group, finding basketball gave him a sense of belonging. Full of enthusiasm, he’d attend a basketball camp wearing bright yellow astro turf boots, and got a taste of how the game was played in an organised setting. Undeterred by his initial lack of experience, he quickly fell in love with the game, its community, and – of course – the vibes.
“At school was when I really started to fall in love with basketball. It became something I did. You know when you find your identity at school? I think that’s when I finally found mine—like, this is my thing. I still did everything else, but this… this was me.”
Basketball’s boundaries stretched further than Pondfield Park. He would hoop with the Dagenham Dragons on Saturdays and at a local scrimmage on Sundays. Those Sunday sessions started at 9am and cost £2 to play, followed by a routine of 15 lads flooding a local chicken shop to buy a 7-inch pizza and wings at 11am.
"I loved it, bro. I think that’s why I felt so comfortable and why I love basketball—the community brought me so much happiness and camaraderie."
Stan continued to excel academically through hard work and focus—an attitude instilled in him by his Zimbabwean mother. Basketball, but more significantly, the community around it, would become his most cherished companion as his academic journey developed. He attended the University of Essex to study Sports Science but also found himself on the basketball team, playing in the National League. What he’d initially planned to be a degree for a lab job would evolve into a full-blown basketball career.
He played for multiple teams, worked as a Sports Development Assistant at the uni, and enrolled in a Basketball England initiative called Basketball Ambassadors.
There, he learned how to run sessions and create opportunities within the sport at his university. By his second year, he was named 'Basketball President,' captained the second team, and oversaw the university’s basketball community. In an effort to meet the ongoing demand of an oversubscribed programme, he launched an in-house league called '5v5 Fridays.' The league blew up. Stan cultivated a movement that embodied the blend of competition and camaraderie that had made him fall in love with the game. Teams had jerseys, and winning teams got special jerseys. Stan became the face of the entire movement.
“That league meant everything to me, bro. I’d be in my Friday night lectures counting down—‘Only five hours left until 5v5.’ I’d literally be sitting there writing social media scripts, getting team sheets ready… all of that, in my actual lectures."
"It genuinely meant so much to me. And I didn’t realise how much it meant to other people until my year group graduated. That’s when people started saying stuff like, ‘Bro, you’re a legend.’”
Along with his love for the Hip Hop group Migos, it was at university where his newfound reputation as a leader gave birth to the name 'Huncho.' It was a fitting title, a cheeky nod to an actual truth. It matched his energy, personality, his smile.
Stan extended his time at uni by starting a master’s, partly because he didn’t want to leave!
When COVID brought challenges, he learned new skills—namely, streaming basketball games and commentating on them.
His natural charisma, authentic passion, and ability to bring the vibes in any context placed Huncho Stan front and centre with a mic in his hand. Initially, he was the in-house MC with the Essex Rebels, later being invited to work the crowd at the Basketball England Cup Finals alongside Essex DJ Nate (aka Big Dog Balling), in front of an arena audience. Now, he’s a familiar face at London Lions games, Team GB games, and your resident host wherever top-quality basketball is being played.
"I want to be the best basketball MC on the entire planet. Like, I want to be like the guy from Rucker Park—I love his thing. I want to be that voice where, as soon as you hear it, you know it’s basketball. I want to be the Michael Jordan or LeBron James of basketball MCs, bro. That’s actually my dream."
“I don’t fully know what it looks like—or how I get there—but I know I’m doing the right thing. I’m taking opportunities, chasing moments, trying to make people smile.”
Though he didn’t finish his master’s—having been offered a full-time job working in the game—Stan knew the academic route wasn’t for him. What was hard to shake was the weight of his family’s expectations. But the hours he’d already poured into basketball would soon reward him with a vocation. That tension became motivation—to prove he could build something doing what he loved.
“I love to learn, and one day I’ll go back and finish that masters. But for now, it’s chasing the dream.
At just 27 years old, Stan’s just getting started. He may not have taken the route his mother hoped for, but she can rest assured that he came away from university with a degree and a whole lot more. I have no doubt she’ll be brimming with pride when watching him bring joy to some of the biggest crowds.
For me, if he can bring the vibes to a tired and gloomy court on a drizzly Tuesday morning in Dagenham, he can bring it anywhere.
At Pondfield Park, Huncho Stan is wearing the Jordan 3 'Lucky Shorts.' He explains that this is his favourite Jordan silhouette. "I just like how simple this one is. The blue is vibrant. And I really like the detail—it’s great. They’re just so clean."
