Page 8 - BWA 2021 ANNUAL REPORT

8 | BWA ANNUAL REPORT 2021
THE CEO’S REPORT
Rob Clement
2021 was not a normal year for most involved in basketball, with some cancellations of games and deferrals, restrictions in terms of travel and limitations in regard to indoor numbers whether spectators or players, our sport was again challenged to rise to the occasion, and that it did.
Player numbers bounced back from
the heavily affected COVID 2020 year and we surpassed 57,000 registered participants. The credit here must go
to all the clubs and associations which are the cogs behind the wheels and do a fantastic job in providing participation opportunities. We now have over 75 registered affiliated associations from Kununurra in the far north to Esperance in the far south, all of which do a great job of representing Basketball WA in the local community.
FACILITIES
The need to continually expand facility and court numbers continues to put pressure on our resources and the demand for basketball at the local community level, it is encouraging to hear of funding approvals for Geraldton, Kalgoorlie and the South West Sports Centre however there are over 15 -20 additional centres and growth areas that will be the focus of our efforts over the coming years.
PARTICIPATION
We continued to consolidate our regional delivery and 2021 saw us enter the Goldfields partnering with Kalgoorlie Boulder Basketball Association to place our sixth regional development officer
in addition to those currently in the Kimberley, Pilbara, Midwest, Southwest and Great Southern. We are currently discussing how we can expand further to include the Wheatbelt which has many smaller associations and needs the support to grow the sport.
Our school programs and Aussie hoops community programs have continued
to go from strength to strength even though some schools had similar restrictions to travel and visitors on their
properties but by enlarge most schools re-engaged with us and the school slam series. The Aussie Hoops program is currently being reviewed with the hope to renew and refresh the brand and provide more opportunities for local associations to co-brand their entry level programs.
Our reach and impact on the local community continues to grow through our 3X3 basketball with over 40 community programs delivered across the state, soon to be an Olympic and Commonwealth Games sport the modified version of the game has real street appeal and is gaining a following and momentum. Discussions are being had whether this form of the game is also better suited for school level basketball being short, sharp, high energy and variety of skills developed.
PERFORMANCE
2021 was another challenging year for high performance as there was restrictions on travel, however our performance team did a great job training, selecting, and preparing the teams to go to nationals.
We had some good results but none better than the U18 boys win which back up from our same result in 2018.
The selection and trials of athletes is never easy and we are receiving record numbers of kids trialling out for state teams, credit must go to the team of volunteer coaches and selectors assisting our sub elite programs for the amount of tireless and largely thankless time that they spend weekend after weekend with the various squads.
ASSOCIATION DEVELOPMENT
Our Association Development team continued to provide support and guidance to our associations in what is becoming an ever-challenging environment with legal and governance issues and expectations
form the community rising all the time and making the gesture of volunteering and ever more complex art. I thank all our 75 associations for the wonderful work they do in the community being ambassadors for the sport of basketball.
PERTH LYNX
During 2021 we continued the integration of the Perth Lynx back into the Basketball WA family and again
it was nice to see a predominance of Western Australian athletes in the team. The team had a very tough schedule starting a full month after everyone
else due to travel restrictions and then having to spend seven weeks in Ballarat, flying all around the east coast made the schedule very challenging. To their credit after four homes games in 8 days the ladies finished second on the ladder and look great for a strong finals challenge. We were particularly buoyed by the signing of Northern Star Resources as a major partner and look forward to a long and fruitful partnership in women’s sport and the Goldfields region.
WHEELCHAIR BASKETBALL
WA is one of the leading states in the integration of the wheelchair basketball, with a national and state based development program in conjunction with WAIS and Basketball Australia, ownership and consolidation of the national league teams under the Wheelcats.
COMPETITIONS
Our competitions continue with their strong rise in growth and interest with the State Championships recording it best ever attendance again, along with year-on-year growth of the country championships and the continued strength of the WABL competition. In