Page 22 - BWA Annual Report 2019

Perth Metro Basketball League
In 2020, the Perth Metropolitan Basketball League (PMBL) continued to represent Basketball WA as Perth’s premier social domestic basketball competition.
During the first quarter of the 2019/20 financial year, Basketball WA’s High Performance Administrator Gareth Allen was appointed to the role of Competitions Administrator following Megan Lorkin’s departure from the position.
After the 2019 Spring Season, the PMBL saw a decrease in team nominations from 197 to 186 teams. Subsequently, a thorough audit of the team nomination process was performed by Basketball WA’s Competitions Department prior to the 2019/20 Summer Season commencing. Following a considerable number of phone calls to team contacts as assessing previous feedback, the decrease in team nominations was ultimately attributed to a combination of seasonal influences and minimal marketing surrounding team registrations.
Communication was made with teams, along with a focus on improving not only the relationships between players and referees,
but the health and wellbeing of all individuals involved. The PMBL was able to establish a new standard of customer relations. Ultimately, despite the decrease in team nominations, 27 new teams joined the competition during this period with 15 team’s adamant they would return following the conclusion of the 2019/20 Summer Season. As a result, the PMBL experienced a gross team retention rate of 83% with the possibility of an actual retention rate as high as 91% given the prominent return of those teams taking a “Summer sabbatical”. This represents a dramatic improvement from the 77% retention rate experienced during the 2018/19 PMBL calendar.
Prior to the 2019/20 Summer Season commencing, a comprehensive restructuring of the Referee Co-Ordinator and Games Night
Controller position was performed. This included:
• the introduction of KPI’s relating to referee coverage and player disqualifications
• comprehensive referee training, focussing on conduct and behaviour
• the establishment of a more secure and consistent rostering system
• the internal promotion of a number of more experienced and capable staff.
As a result, the PMBL experienced a 97.3% rate of referee coverage, a significant improvement from the previous seasons rate of 92.2%. There was also an exceptional reduction in player disqualifications, decreasing from 46% to 24%.
The future of the PMBL looks promising. In collaboration with Blaine Krapljanov (Basketball WA’s Officials Education and Training Manager), the PMBL has intentions to perform:
• A meticulous review of the PMBL By-Laws, in particular those relating to Player Disqualifications and Referee Conduct
• A rigorous approach to educating our referees about the aforementioned changes
• A strategic marketing approach aimed at improving the PMBL’s social presence with a particular focus on developing,
promoting and utilising PMBL’s social connectivity including Facebook, Instagram and other online media.
• The development of an elite “premiere league” within the PMBL with a focus on delivering a highly professional and comprehensive basketball league to those individuals wanting to participate at a higher level of competitiveness, particularly those with aspirations of playing SBL.
83% Increase Retention Rate
to Previous Year
97.3% rate
of Referee Coverage
15 BWA ANNUAL REPORT 2019