Labor pledges basketball hub for Geelong

GEELONG will get one of seven high-performance basketball training hubs to be built across Victoria if Labor wins this month’s state election.

The Geelong hub, to be built at the Geelong Arena in North Geelong, will give local players access to the best training programs close to home, with a clear pathway to playing elite level basketball in Australia or the American NBA.

Operating out of each of the hubs, a new Intensive Training Program will see a dedicated High-Performance Coach work with male and female teams for children under 14, 15, 16 and 18. Teams for players with disabilities will also be established.

Each team will train together every week, plus individual one-on-one weekly sessions to work on shooting and strength conditioning.

As part of the program, participants will also have the opportunity to compete in interstate and overseas tournaments, allowing them to advance their skills and increase their exposure to national and international talent scouts.

A re-elected Labor Government will invest $5 million to establish the new training hubs, as part of a $101 million plan to grow basketball from grassroots to elite level across the state.

This includes establishing a new Australian Basketball Centre of Excellence at the Knox Regional Sports Park – which Geelong’s new highperformance basketball training hub will feed into – with Basketball Australia relocating their training facilities from Canberra.

Minister for Sport John Eren and Bellarine MP Lisa Neville visited the Geelong Arena last week to make the announcement.

Mr Eren said the hub would help children in Geelong and the Bellarine take their hoop dreams to the next level.

“If your kids dream of playing basketball for Australia, we’ll give them a pathway to get there.”