Kylie Ruggi is a member of one of the largest, if not the largest, junior basketball clubs in Shepparton, the Tigers.
She has more than three decades of local basketball experience in coaching and playing and is tired of her players (and the rest of the younger basketball community) being held back by the facilities.
“Development-wise, we can’t train our kids,” Ruggi said.
“That flows on to the Gators and our ability to supply the seniors with competitive players.
“It’s been going on for a long time, and nothing has been done.”
The Tigers train at the Visy, formerly Wanganui High School’s stadium.
Due to the lack of courts in Shepparton and having to fit in with the domestic competitions due to the Greater Shepparton Basketball Association’s use of the venue, training is rarely earlier than 7pm on a weekday and school night.
This is asking a lot of parents and volunteers and has flow-on effects, with parents and children forced to decide just how much basketball means to them and whether it’s worth being tired for school the next day.
This affects numbers at training, meaning some teams and players can’t get the same development as others.
Beyond just skills and competency in the sport, it can tarnish the social aspect of junior sports and potentially alienate children, depending on their family situations and their parents’ flexibility.
The crazy part is, the Tigers are much luckier than other clubs.
So many junior teams in the region are simply unable to train and access indoor courts regularly.
“The training times and scheduling cause huge problems,” Ruggi said.
“Coming back from COVID, our numbers have grown so much.
“We have hundreds of kids we have to train and fit in with the GSBA.
“They’re missing out on the experiences other players in other towns get.”
Ruggi said she played in Mooroopna when she was growing up and that since all basketball operations had moved to the Shepparton Sports Stadium, the sport had plateaued from a facilities and investment standpoint.
She has seen numerous tournaments and competitions bring money into the local economy, recalling years ago when now NBA player and Bendigo-native Dyson Daniels played in the Shepparton Junior Tournament.
Without investment and competitive facilities, Ruggi fears Shepparton will lose out on all those benefits, and athletes at that level will choose to play in other towns.
She said casual players would likely choose a more accessible sport, such as footy, that had none of the aforementioned problems with training and scheduling.
On the flip side, she said quality young players with potential would be forced to pursue a playing career in other towns with superior facilities and pathways for development.
This prospect made Ruggi worry for the future of the Shepparton Gators, and she emphasised how important it was that the current squad had been successful with a core of local players.
She wondered whether that would be possible in the future.
She said the scenes at the Big V grand final last year, when hundreds of fans were sent home due to capacity issues at the stadium, were unacceptable.
Ruggi recalled a similar thing happening at a championship grand final in the 1990s, further illustrating just how slowly the facilities and investment into Shepparton basketball had progressed.
For her, the priority needs to be more courts, but not at the expense of getting anything at all.
She said even just two new courts would make a world of difference for the domestic competition and that anything was better than the nothing of the past three decades.
“A show court for the Gators would be great,” Ruggi said.
“Embrace the demand. We should welcome as many people to games as possible.
“If you had the seats, you could get 800 to 1000 people there regularly.
“The entire community would reap the rewards.”
Ruggi said there were so many opportunities to leverage a stadium upgrade to stimulate the local economy.
She said if you could get that many people at the stadium for the Big V games, there would be revenue opportunities for a restaurant or bistro, given the stadium’s location in Shepparton North.
Beyond that, the possibilities were endless for NBL games, WNBL games, Suncorp Super Netball games, performances and events.
“It’s so frustrating to travel to Bendigo and other towns and see what they’re able to offer their kids,” Ruggi said.
“If you get the facilities, you get the coaches, and you get a thriving basketball community that has already grown so much.
“After the Commonwealth Games cancellation, it’s the perfect opportunity to finally do something about this.”
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Stand For Our Stadium: The story so far
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