Page 11 - BWA Annual Report 2020 W

and state based development program in conjunction with WAIS and Basketball Australia. Ownership and consolidation of the national league teams under
the Perth Wheelcats has been a great success unfortunately COVID19 cancelled the operation of the League in 2020 and we look forward to 2021 to see the talent back on the court again with many players vying for the Tokyo Paralympics.
Our Competitions keeps going from strength to strength with the State Championships recording it best ever attendance, along with year-on-year growth of the Country Championships and the continued growth of WABL. Even though 2020 was a reduced season, more and more Western Australians are enjoying our Domestic Competitions. The rebranding of SBL to NBL1 West is a significant milestone for the sport nationally and I personally would like to thank all the SBL clubs for their support and collegiality during the yearlong negotiations. We look forward
to an exciting 2021. To the BWA Competitions staff, I would like to thank and commend them for the work in reengineering the SBL into the West Coast Classic to ensure basketball at the elite end could continue and our best athletes could play throughout 2020 even if in a revised format and reduced capacity crowds.
The future like all sports has its challenges however Basketball in WA is well placed to grow and develop. BWA is looking to expand into the community area trying to support and develop the youth of tomorrow utilising basketball to achieve some broader life goals and objectives. Finally, our locality lends itself to de- veloping much stronger ties with the Asian continent to hopefully expand our reach and provide opportu- nities for our members to grow and developing their trade once the borders reopen.
I would like to thank the Board for its ongoing and continual support, those members being Keith Dunlap (Chair), Jeff Dennis (Deputy Chair), Sandra
Riches, Jennifer Riatti, Brian Atkin, Craig Coleman and Cassandra Wright, for their dedication and the
free time that they so willing give to Basketball WA. In particular guiding the organisation through COVID with no redundancies and providing staff key leadership and direction.
I would also like to thank the hard-working staff at BWA who do the big jobs in actually implementing our programs, supporting our members and driving the sport forward, in particular during the COVID shut- down and during the return to sport our staff were tremendous in their approach to their work and sup- porting our associations even when at time as they may have had personal concerns regarding their own circumstances. I would like to single out my Deputy CEO Evan Stewart for his leadership and stewardship of our staff and programs during a very difficult year for all and thank him for his personal support.
The sport of basketball is vast and takes many forms, is delivered by a variety of stakeholders and has a strong and professional affiliated membership deter-
mined to make a difference in the community. We couldn’t function without the support of our key partners and our deepest thanks go to Healthways, the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries and Venues West for their ongoing support and commitment to the sport of Basketball.
Finally, and most importantly, a big thank you to all of the Basketball Community who volunteer week in and week out, from Club basketball to State teams, giving your time and effort.
Robert Clement
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Our State Leagues and
our Participation numbers again hovered around 50,000 registered members, with approximately 20,000 in regional areas and 30,000 affiliated in the metropoli- tan area. This confirms our position as one of the largest participation sports
in the state. BWA ANNUAL REPORT 2019 2