Family of Dean Barwick taken aback by emotional Gold Coast basketball

“Lots of people embraced Dean’s family and they were really moved. They thought it would just be his team not the whole stadium of seniors, juniors and the rest of the community.”

Popular Gold Coast basketballer Dean Barwick. Vale. Picture: Supplied

The Gold Coast basketball community has paid their respects to a beloved player who passed away earlier this month in a touching ceremony in front of his family.

Dean Barwick was a popular figure around the Gold Coast basketball scene and was known as a great teammate, friend and member of the community.

Members of the Barwick family, including his father and his son, were invited to attend a moment of silence before the first game of the season on Tuesday night.

While the family believed only Barwick’s teammates would be involved, the entire eight-court stadium of Dean’s friends and strangers alike joined in to honour his life.

Gold Coast Basketball would like to say thank you to all our members who paused for a moments silence on Tuesday night...

Posted by Gold Coast Basketball on Thursday, 23 January 2020

Gold Coast Basketball general manager Joel McInnes said it was the first chance the community had to pay their respects to Dean together on the court.

“The atmosphere is always loud and noisy because we had juniors and rep teams training across eight courts but as soon as I started you could hear a pin drop,” McInnes said..

“Lots of people embraced Dean’s family and they were really moved.

“They were taken aback, they thought it would just be his team not the whole stadium of seniors, juniors and the rest of the community.”

A GoFundMe page has been established to help support the Barwick family, which can be found here.