Country basketballers from far and wide flocked to the region last weekend, taking part in the Echuca-Moama Basketball Association’s annual tournament.
More than 100 teams and over 1000 people were involved in the mega three-day tournament, which saw plenty of local talent out on the court.
The Echuca Pirates had 18 teams competing across the different age groups, while Rochester Basketball Association had eight sides in action.
It was a stellar effort across the board for both the Pirates and the Tigers. Echuca had six teams reach the grand final, with the under-14 boys Division 1 and Division 3 sides winning the decider. Rochester had four of its eight teams reach the grand final, with the under-12 Division 2 boys winning the finale.
Echuca-Moama Basketball Association (EMBA) president Lisa Baker said the annual tournament was a great success.
“It was fantastic,” Baker said.
“We had 104 teams all up, and the furthest came from Grifith in NSW, which is awesome.
“We have 18 teams this year, which is the most we have ever had. We had six teams in the grand final and two of those won, which is amazing.
“A lot of teams did really well. Being our first tournament, and considering we hadn’t played together as a team, we did really well.”
The three-day event in Echuca was the first regional basketball tournament of the season, with five more to follow over the coming months.
After a strong start to the season, Baker said all the teams were excited to get back out on the court.
“We have five more tournaments to go, and it is looking super positive, especially for our development teams,” she said.
“We thought they might only go to one or two tournaments, but with the calibre of kids we have got, we thought let’s go to all of them, and they want to play.
“It is really exciting. The teams that lost in the grand finals are super eager to get to the next tournament in Swan Hill.
“Everyone is so excited to get back to training and develop. We know some of our strengths and weaknesses and what we need to work on.”
The annual tournament is just one part of a mega few weeks for EMBA. The association held its annual jamboree last week as well, with both the Country Basketball League and domestic seasons also set to tip off in the near future.
Baker said the tournament was a huge deal not just for EMBA, but for the Echuca-Moama region as a whole.
“The tournament is our major fundraiser of the year,” she said.
“We try to run it as best we can, and we have had some really good feedback this year, as we do normally every year, just on how well run it is.
“The games were on time, the referees were good, so it is a real positive to go in to plan for next year and make it bigger and better.
“For the region, the amount of money it brings in is phenomenal.
“For the ones who haven’t been here before, you hope that they decide to come back to Echuca-Moama for a holiday, not just for basketball.
“A lot of teams stay between jamboree and our tournament, so they had a few days in Echuca-Moama too.”
With this year’s tournament now in the books, Baker said it was great to see the players back in action, while thanking everyone involved for making the event such a special one.
“Seeing everyone back out on the court was the best part,” she said.
“The Pirate family is amazing. The amount of people that offered in the canteen or the raffle or even to clean up rubbish, it is really awesome to see, it is a real family environment.”
The next tournament will be held in Swan Hill on Saturday and Sunday, October 22 and 23.