The Greater Shepparton Basketball Association has been advised by Shepparton police that parents and players are speeding between the Visy Community Centre and the Shepparton Sports Stadium.
The GSBA currently uses the two venues for domestic basketball competitions for both juniors and adults.
Parents, players and participants have complained about game scheduling on school and work nights during the week, with junior games starting as early as 4.20pm and adults’ games finishing after 10pm.
Unfortunately, the GSBA’s hands are tied.
Due to significant growth in the sport, with close to 2000 players domestically and just six courts available across the two venues, GSBA is forced to schedule games at this time to allow everyone to play.
Now, the lack of courts has turned into a safety issue, with people allegedly speeding from one venue to arrive in time for a game at the other.
The Visy is located just a few hundred metres around the corner from the Shepparton Sports Stadium.
When travelling between the venues, drivers would either go past the hockey and soccer fields through the Sports Precinct (which has a 40km/h speed limit, multiple speed bumps and roundabouts) or via Brauman St and Numurkah Rd (60km/h speed limit).
Due to the alleged speeding, the GSBA will now be forced to schedule games further apart to give participants time to travel between the two venues, likely leading to even earlier or later games.
The GSBA also announced that this year it would be hosting two Shepparton basketball tournaments instead of one.
In December last year, the Greater Shepparton Junior Basketball Tournament once again brought families from across the state into our community, stimulating the local economy.
Many teams, families, players and coaches said the games were too spread out across the region due to a lack of courts at the Shepparton Sports Stadium.
Families had to drive to Kyabram for some games and then back to Shepparton, with little rest time in between.
Longer periods between start times in games will create further scheduling considerations for administrators and organisers.
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