A new interschool primary basketball competition will be launched in Deniliquin this year, to begin in Term 4.
Starting on Thursday, October 31, South School teacher and tournament coordinator Luke Moodie said the tournament and trophy will be named in honour of an important figure in local sport - George Day.
The competition will be included within the PSSA calendar, and will involve the four Deniliquin primary schools - North, Edward, South and St Michael’s.
“It is named the George Day Trophy to pay tribute to a local person who has impacted both basketball and education for many years, and who is highly respected for his impact,” Mr Moodie said.
“It was a suggestion by Jamie Tasker. Being a basketball person himself in his younger days, and having played against Moonahcullah, he immediately mentioned George as someone to name it after.
“After that, I took the idea to the four schools, which then went to the PSSA meeting for a final approval to be included in the local sports calendar.
“After the approval, I made contact with George for his approval. He replied that the competition sounded like a super idea, and that he would be honoured if the competition was named after him.”
Mr Moodie said the four schools already participate in other sporting days, including AFL, and suggested expanding the friendly rivalries to other sports.
The format scheduled for October will include three pools - one boys, one girls and a non-competitive mixed team event.
The games are set to be slightly modified with rules and game time.
On the round-robin day, schools will be awarded four points for a win, one for winning a half.
Only the results from the boys and girls pools will contribute to the trophy tallies.
In preparation for the new tournament, Deniliquin South School students were asked to help design their tournament uniforms.
These will also be used for any other basketball events the school participates in.
Mr Moodie said he then came up with a final design by incorporating elements from the student designs.