Seahawks ‘will survive’

Shutdown is a blow but club remains confident

THE North Gold Coast Seahawks are confident of surviving the COVID-19 pandemic despite the immediate suspension of all basketball activity.

The Seahawks decided last week to postpone all basketball competitions in the face of global uncertainty.

The decision proved a big blow to the non-for-profit association, which relies on game payments as one of its primary sources of income.

Seahawks general manager Dwayne Vale said the association, like many other sporting organisations, was set to suffer in the short-term.

“As it stands, our priority is that one, we still have an association once this is all over and two, we are looking after staff and finding ways to keep them involved,” Vale said.

“The club impact is no different to any other grassroots club in that we’re not-for-profit and we’re not made of money so we’re largely member-driven.

“First and foremost as well, the big impact is that kids aren’t playing our game.

“The kids love the game and performing at a high level so the toughest pill to swallow was telling them they weren’t able to play.

“It was a day-by-day decision and one of the hardest to make, having to tell kids they can’t do something that they love but those decisions were made with the forefront of health and safety at mind.”

Vale said the Seahawks would begin to explore an array of opportunities, such as government grants, to stay afloat in times of uncertainty.

“We’re pretty blessed that we’ve got some great partners and sponsors who we’ve had preliminary discussions with,” he said.

“There’s so much uncertainty out there and we’ll be exhausting all avenues but a lot of it is sitting and waiting and seeing what happens.”

The fate of the newly formed Queensland State League is also yet to be decided after NBL1 North decided to pull the pin on Tuesday, but

Vale said it would be an easier task to delay the local competition and tip-off closer to the start of the next NBL season.

An additional silver lining has been that the Seahawks’ Under-21 teal boys have been awarded the Basketball Queensland Southern Cup, while the Under-16 girls have been crowned Challenge Cup winners with the suspension of junior competition.

“It’s a huge reward for both of those teams and we’re super proud,” Vale said.