One junior basketball club in Shepparton is seeing the benefits of the re-emergence and sudden rise in popularity of basketball in Australia.
Junior membership numbers at Tigers Basketball Club have exploded in the past 12 months as youngsters look to become the next Aussie star and follow in the footsteps of Patty Mills, Josh Giddey and Jock Landale.
You only have to make a trip to the Tigers’ training session at Visy Centre in north Shepparton to see how much basketball’s recent boom has benefited the club.
More than 300 juniors represent the Tigers and the club has now reached record numbers.
“The positive for our club is that we continue to grow and grow,” Tigers president Duane Hueston said.
“We’re probably one of the bigger basketball clubs in Shepparton, our junior membership base is now up to 325 kids with 45 teams — which is the biggest it’s ever been.
“Our best summer season we are getting around 280 kids, so this has been a huge jump.
“Just basketball in general as a sport has grown a lot. When I first came in it wasn’t as big as it was right now.
“Australia-wide kids are watching it a lot and are wanting to play it with their friends.”
But an exponential increase in participation rates has resulted in multiple issues for the Tigers’ committee.
The Tigers are one of many user groups who share the facilities at the Visy Centre.
During the winter months netball outfits use it for training.
And in recent months the Tigers offered up their Monday and Tuesday night training sessions for the growing local domestic basketball competition.
In October, the Tigers’ board needed to be fluid in its decision-making after the devastating floods that impacted Shepparton.
Flood waters around the Visy Centre and Shepparton Sports Stadium left the Tigers to use the outside courts at Bourchier Street Primary School.
Despite the threat of flood waters now having passed, the discussion on Shepparton upgrading its indoor stadium facilities continues.
And with no genuine backing from Victorian or Federal governments to upgrade the sports stadium, the likely possibility of juniors missing out on doing what they love is of serious concern for all involved at the Tigers.
“The challenges that come with that (growth) is getting a venue for training and getting coaches,” Hueston said.
“Because basketball has grown so much in Shepparton we (had) discussions with the GSBA that they could use Monday and Tuesday nights here to play the domestic comp which meant we lost our training venue.
“We share Visy Centre with other user groups ... it would be ideal if we had this venue to ourselves so we could train right through and cater for everyone, but when you’re sharing a venue and things like that there’s just not enough space.
“But we’ve got a great committee and a great bunch of families who have been very patient. They can see that we have got big numbers and they’re also willing to help out.
“There is a big need for a bigger venue. That is the biggest challenge, just finding that space.”