Mornington Peninsula basketball associations join forces to fight for a new 10 court stadium
The Mornington Peninsula’s three basketball associations are joining forces to create “one loud voice” in the fight for more courts. And a merger is not off the table.
South East
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Basketballers are starting games late as 9.45pm and at least one league has already capped its competition for winter 2023 as the Mornington Peninsula’s indoor court crisis deepens.
Local administrators say young women, officials and parents were leaving the sport in frustration at the lack of court space to cater for the peninsula’s 8000 players.
The peninsula’s three basketball associations recently joined forces to create “one loud voice” to lobby all levels of government for more courts.
Basketball Victoria member and community services general manager David Huxtable said the peninsula needed a major court development, with eight to 10 new court, to match what has already occurred in places like Traralgon, Bendigo and Ballarat.
Mornington District Basketball Association (MDBA) said it was already exceeding its court capacity and had a wait list of at least 200 players for its summer competition.
“An example of this is turning away young women 16–20 years old as their match times were either 9.30pm or 10.15pm on a Monday night,” MDBA general manager Samantha Browne said.
“Registrations for the Winter 23 season are now capped to ensure we can meet the demand but we know many teams will end up not being allocated a competition.”
Ms Browne said the association’s 29 representative teams had limited access to training facilities and often had to use non-compliant courts with inadequate equipment and train late at night midweek.
It’s a similar story on the other side of the peninsula with Western Port Basketball Association players forced to travel as far as Carrum Downs and Seaford for home games.
“The cost of living and rising interest rates is really starting to hurt families … using petrol to drive from Hastings to Carrum Downs and back for a game of basketball just won’t be viable for some,” association general manager Peter Caspersz said.
Adult players faced hitting the court as late as 9.45pm on a week night, he said.
Basketballers aren’t the only people affected by the court shortages.
Southern Peninsula Basketball Association (SPBA) general manager Ben White said the association was forced to knock back 10,000 people wanting to take part in its 2022 annual junior tournament.
“That represents $1m that the local economy missed out on,” Mr White said.
Mr White said basketball was “booming” on the peninsula, growing at a rate of 28 per cent every year compared to a state average of seven per cent.
The state average growth rate for the sport was seven per cent, he said.
During his successful 2022 state election campaign Nepean state Liberal MP Sam Groth promised to spend $7.8 million on updating and extending the association’s home base at Dromana Secondary College, but Labor hasn’t matched promise.
The Peninsula Basketball Project, being run with support from Basketball Victoria, was also considering ways to better share existing facilities and hadn’t ruled out merging.
Project chairwoman Jess Jones said similar initiatives had been developed in other parts of the state to help facilitate growth.
“We want to make sure the Peninsula doesn’t get left behind,” she said.
Mornington Peninsula mayor Steve Holland said the council was developing a new indoor sports plan which would soon be available for community feedback.
He said Frankston City Council recently received $30 million from the state and federal governments to redevelop its Seaford basketball stadium and Mornington Shire would welcome a similar commitment.
A state government spokesman said community groups wanting to expand or rebuild stadiums should first work with the council on a proposal “We encourage community groups looking to expand or rebuild local stadiums to work with the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council to develop a proposal for consideration through future funding opportunities.”