More Basketball Facilities Needed
There is currently a lack of appropriate indoor facilities to support sustainable basketball programs being run by community volunteers in our local basketball association.
Our aim is to facilitate new courts, please support us by downloading the appropriate letter below and sending it to your local MP.
In the past 2 years, basketball participation has risen by over 50% for juniors and 22% for adults (15 years and above). This is reflective of the growth of our game across Australia where the number of people playing competitive basketball increased by over 200,000 during the same period, showing the game's resilience through a challenging and COVID impacted year.
Basketball in Western Australia has stamped itself as the most participated team sport for juniors with almost 65,000 children regularly playing competitive basketball, of which over 55,000 are registered in our Associations.
As the sport has been expanding, it has been hampered by facilities that are not able to fulfill the needs and demands of participants, and a lack of facilities and courts in our area to accommodate population growth.
To drive efficiency and growth it is critical that our metropolitan and large regional associations have access to a 6-8 court facility. This allows the concentration of activity within one venue that reduces the need for volunteers to cover more than one venue.
It also generally allows for growth of up to 3,000 members (and more) at which point it becomes viable to have staff support the operation of events, competitions and growth strategies. Critically, it also is viable to sustainably manage the maintenance and operation of the facility without ongoing need for local government subsidy.
The lack of investment in indoor facilities for community access in West Australia over the past 20 years, instead of steady development and upgrades to infrastructure over time, has lead to a critical shortage that is a major barrier to participation and growth in an era of increasing obesity and sedentary behaviour. All facilities in our area are now at capacity, with Perry Lakes Association having a waiting list of over 300 children unable to play. For our club, the Newman Holy Rosary Raiders Basketball Club this means that for this and likely next season we have to turn numerous kids away.
This situation is critical as it means there are children unable to participate and gain social, physical and mental benefits of being involved in our local community Association.
Please help us with our ongoing campaign by clicking on the links below to download a letter outlining the current situation. Please sign, date and send to the address provided in the PDF. If we gain enough support, we hope that the MPs will then take the appropriate action.