Our elite basketballers are unfairly disadvantaged due to the facilities in Shepparton, but the real victims are the next generation.
When Shepparton Gators import Josh Kooiman arrived in Shepparton, he had no idea about the issues that faced the local basketball community.
“I knew we had big crowds,” he said
“But I had no perception of the court situation.”
While attending high school in New Zealand, Kooiman could be found on the court at his local basketball stadium late at night or early in the morning, with 24/7 access.
Now, he’s a professional athlete, and he can barely get access to a court.
The limited four courts at the Shepparton Sports Stadium force the Gators to use other facilities across Shepparton and limit their training time.
“We don’t even train on our home court half the time,” Kooiman said.
“We train at the Visy, which has different rims.
“Shots that go in there don’t go in at the stadium.
“The reps don’t count the same.”
Kooiman said the scenes at last year’s Division One grand final, when hundreds of fans were sent home due to capacity issues at the Shepparton Sports Stadium, were unacceptable.
He said he saw families that had travelled to away games and had been lined up for hours get sent home.
Ahead of the Gators’ first home game of the season this Saturday night, April 6, fears have been renewed that children and parents may be told there simply isn’t room for them.
Kooiman said the junior players weren’t getting the same development as children in other towns.
He said this was evidenced by fellow Gators Matt Bartlett and Tom Frame’s business The Bucket Centre.
The Bucket Centre provides private training sessions for junior players, allowing them to have one-on-one time with Shepparton’s best ballers.
Kooiman said the fact the Buckets boys were constantly booked out showed how much the current facilities weren’t meeting the demands of the next generation.
“It speaks to how big basketball is,” Kooiman said.
“And that’s with an old stadium that doesn’t have enough courts.
“Imagine what could be possible if they had that.
“How can they practise and get better?”
Kooiman said he understood there was a lot of history and politics that he didn’t understand as an outsider coming into the community just a year ago.
But even to an outsider, the issues are obvious — which begs the question, why hasn’t anything been done about it?
“That’s the thing, man,” Kooiman said.
“You look out at our crowd, and half of them are kids.
“I’m not going to lie; I don’t really understand the politics of it all.
“But kids shouldn’t be held back like that.
“They don’t deserve that.
“I think everyone should agree on that.”