Annual comp brings bevy of basketballers

HUNDREDS of senior-level basketball players will soon descend upon the region with the return of Basketball Ballarat’s annual Sporting Globe Senior Tournament.

Taking place across the Labour Day long weekend, the competition will entail three days of five-by-five games, with players travelling from across Australia.

Basketball Ballarat partnerships and marketing manager Chris Thornton said the tournament has been a popular fixture for decades.

“It’s pretty much one of very few senior tournaments that run in Victoria, possibly even in Australia,” he said.

“It’s supported heavily amongst the seniors competition, mainly targeted around that 30-plus age in particular, and there’s so many economic benefits for the Ballarat region with our bed night stays over the course of the tournament.

“Ultimately, although it’s highly competitive and engaging, there’s definitely a more social element to it that I think attracts our participants.”

The tournament will see back-to-back games held at Selkirk Stadium and the Ballarat Minerdome, with around 750 players and more than 100 teams expected to participate.

Each team will play a minimum of four games.

A Grade competitors will play for $550 in prizemoney for the winner and $200 for the runner-up, while $450 will go to the B Grade winner and $150 to the runner-up.

The C Grade winner will receive $350 and the runner-up $100.

The social and masters grade winners will each receive $300.

Mr Thornton said the tournament continues to maintain a high participation rate.

“The retention of the teams that return is generally high whether it’s from South Australia or Melbourne,” he said.

“We’ve got the university teams like University of Melbourne that generally send down their main men’s and women’s teams.

“A few other metro associations will utilise the tournament as a bit of a pre-season weekend for their teams ahead of their big season.”

The tournament will be held from Saturday 8 to Monday 10 March.

Entries for participation close at 5pm on Friday 21 February, and will cost $440 per team.

To register, visit playhq.com/basketball-victoria/register/27eff0.