Shooting hoops and making connections

LAST Friday’s SWISH Intercultural Basketball Tournament saw diverse young people mix, shoot some hoops, and celebrate the vibrant multiculturalism of their regional communities.

The Y Ballarat’s youth engagement officer Suze Larmer said 50 young people hit the courts at the Ballarat Sports and Events Centre, including 20 from Nhill and Horsham, experiencing skills clinics and basketball games.

“It was a really fun and positive day. We had two Ballarat Basketball players from the Rush and the Miners, Alicia Froling and Will Hynes, who facilitated the clinics as warm-ups,” she said.

“We had a couple of uniformed police officers who got in and played a couple of games, and presented two jerseys, signed by Alicia and Will, to the best all-rounders; Magbul Chouc and Nyaw Nay Htoo Shwe.

“SEDA College helped run the event, with one boy as MC. We had another young person performing as a DJ, so it was fun all-round.”

Ms Larmer said culturally and linguistically diverse young people enjoyed the opportunity to create connections.

“They realised there is a large multicultural community, they do have a lot of support, and groups like us at The Y Ballarat do have them in mind, wanting to provide lots of engaging opportunities and safe spaces for them,” she said.

“It was great to see them mixing, and a lot of them were very good as basketball which was exciting to watch.”

Targeted to 12 to 25 year olds, the youth-led afternoon ran from 1pm to 4pm. Players were split into beginner, intermediate and advanced stream teams with people of a similar age and skill level for a round-robin competition.

Locally, the tournament has been a collaboration between groups including the Centre for Multicultural Youth, The Y Ballarat, Ballarat Youth Services, Sports Central, the City of Ballarat Recreation Services team, and the Ballarat Regional Multicultural Council.