Juniors return to court
Horshambasketball leaders are eagerly awaiting a return to junior training on Monday following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions on indoor sport.
From November 2, under-18s in regional Victoria can resume indoor non-contact sport and physical recreation.
Horsham Amateur Basketball Association president Jon Fitzgerald has welcomed a ‘reprieve’ for junior sport and said he hoped a return to senior sport was not too far away.
“We’ve been a long time without sport, which has been hard for a lot of people,” he said.
“Some of the kids we have are used to playing two or three sports a day, so to cut it off completely has been really tough.
“We’re rapt to be on the downside of a long period of restrictions and things are definitely looking better now.”
Mr Fitzgerald said the HABA committee had been working hard behind the scenes in line with State Government and Basketball Victoria directives.
Basketball Victoria has developed return to sport guidelines for its 161 associations and more than 500 clubs, providing a framework to reactivate the sport ‘in a safe and suitable manner’.
The framework includes five reactivation levels, each with a detailed set of rules to follow.
Mr Fitzgerald said from Monday, the Horsham association was allowed to resume at ‘Orange 20’ level.
“This means we can have a maximum of 20 under-18s per court for non-contact training,” he said.
“The kids who are training need to be registered for our summer domestic competition, which will run during terms one and two next year.
“We’re really excited to be able to run the summer competition as well and we’re very keen to get kids back on the court to prepare.”
Opportunities
Mr Fitzgerald said he hoped further easing of restrictions flagged for November 23 would allow for contact training sessions before basketball leaders started selections for next year’s squads and representative teams.
“Hopefully we can also open up opportunities for seniors at some stage,” he said.
“It’s been a tough year for everyone, without sport.”
The association had to cancel a wide range of activities throughout the pandemic, including its winter domestic competition and Country Basketball League representative duties.
Mr Fitzgerald took over as president at the association’s annual meeting on June 23 and has had an unusual start to his time at the helm.
“We have seven new board members, all from different backgrounds and sports, and we’re all keen to get basketball up and running again,” he said.
“We’ve done a lot of work behind the scenes – we’ve got a new kitchen and canteen area and have upgraded our change rooms – now we just need players.”
Mr Fitzgerald said he had received plenty of positive responses about activities resuming from the basketball community.
“I’ve had a heap of messages from parents and players who are keen to get going again,” he said.
“It’s been a long time coming and hopefully we can get everyone back on board.
“From chatting to other associations, it looks like ours might be one of the first to get squad and representative basketball back up and running, which is great.
“We’re definitely feeling good about where we are at – the return to junior training is less than a week away, which is just awesome.”
Mr Fitzgerald said junior basketballers could register for the domestic summer competition online at register.horsham basketball.com.au.
He said people could also access links and further information on the Horsham Basketball Facebook page.