The vision which helped Brisbane State High end a 13-year CBSQ championship hoodoo
They won three state titles in four years before going more than a decade without one, but rebuilding a connection to its rich basketball history helped turn this school’s team back into champions.
South East
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Three state championships in four years, six GPS premierships, a national silver medal and an endless line of stars who went on to star on basketball’s biggest stages.
Brisbane State High School were one of the most dominant forces in open boys school basketball in Queensland for a 10-year period between 2002-2011.
Despite winning two GPS flags since that period, State High fell agonisingly short of repeating its successes from past Champion Basketball School of Queensland gold medal teams, going more than a decade without a state title, including four runners-up finishes.
But it was a vision from coach and former team captain Kris Robinson of connecting its current crop of young stars with the school’s rich history, which helped the basketball powerhouse break a 13-year state championship drought.
State High, who were also a shared winner of this year’s GPS premiership, dominated the CBSQ Open Boys competition at the Gold Coast last month, beating The Southport School to claim the gold medal.
The star-studded team was led by grand final MVP Mason Amos, NBA Global Academy scholarship holder Roman Siulepa as well as other key contributors, including Caleb Isaac, Xavier Chio, James Ellis, Liam Hude and more.
“Kris Robinson is the architect behind the success of this group, he had a vision of taking a group of players from Year 7 through to Year 12,” State High’s basketball director, Brett Sue See, said.
“Kris is a player development-first coach and pulled the ‘old band back together’ to connect this group with the program’s proud past.”
After graduating from State High, Robinson returned as a coach alongside Nicholson and Sue See in the early 2000s, when the school boasted stars such as Mitch Young as well as Olympians Chris Goulding and Brock Motum.
“Over the years, they along with Old Boys like former GPS flag-winning captains Seb Aiono, Liam Nicholson, Tom Laycock and Dylan Salfi, have scrimmaged, attended games, spoken to the boys and even recorded video messages before big games,” Robinson said.
“These sort of interactions with former players from the programs inspire our players and help them to understand the proud history of hard work and sacrifice we have the privilege of continuing.”
Both Sue See and Robinson said the reason behind the school’s success was the strong community they had built up over the years.
“Being a public school, all BSHS basketball coaches are unpaid volunteers and we rely on the strong community we’ve built up among supporters and past players over the past three decades,” Sue See said.
“Almost all of our coaches are former players or family members who want to give back to the program.
“After academics, our program takes pride in developing players of all ability levels.
“We’ve also been blessed to work with some great principals like Wade Haynes, who understands the unique challenges a volunteer group faces competing against better-resourced programs.”
Robinson said the people involved in their program understood “nothing is given”.
“We all have to work hard and make sacrifices for our success and I think that makes for stronger players and stronger people in the long run,” he said.
State High’s Open Girls team, who won back-to-back state championships in 2015 and 2016, won a silver medal at last month’s tournament.
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