Upon hearing the recent State Government announcement regarding the projected course of action that will lead us back to what we hope is a resumption of normal activities, the Bendigo Basketball Association will now commence planning on the Summer season with the anticipated starting date of Tuesday 26 October 5 November.
In the short term, team entries will remain open until the 8th October.
One of the key messages is that there will be a requirement for individuals to be fully vaccinated to participate in many aspects of community activities and basketball will undoubtedly be no different, so we would encourage all those that are eligible to get vaccinated to avoid missing out when basketball returns.
While we hope that lockdowns will not be a feature of the Summer season, there will be some exciting new features for the upcoming Paul Gray Builders domestic season.
Most notably, 24 second shot clocks will be introduced for Division 1 junior competitions from the Under 16 age groups in both male and female competitions.
This will raise the bar for the highest standard of junior basketballers in Bendigo and will be an exciting prospect as games take on the added intricacies of playing, coaching and refereeing with a 24 second shot clock.
Also, the Under 12 competitions will adopt the recent change instigated by Basketball Victoria of using a Size 5 basketball across the age group.
The 2021/22 Paul Gray Builders Summer season looks set to show basketball as the dominant participation sport for both male and females in the region. The sport overcoming all the recent obstacles, has still registered an incredibly strong 280 junior teams and will surpass 400 teams when senior entries close.