Bellarine Peninsula Basketball Association has three shy of 3100 members after record-breaking year

Bellarine Peninsula Basketball Association remains “bursting at the seams” after a record-breaking 2023 across nine separate benchmarks while turning over $1.1m in revenue.

A record breaking year at Bellarine Peninsula Basketball Association in 2023 across nine different benchmarks has renewed calls for improved and additional infrastructure.

In a statement on its website, the association reported a “sizeable” year with a swag of records achieved.

There was a 10 per cent increase in teams for the 2023-24 domestic competition’s summer season to 336, while producing $1.1m in revenue — a 70 per cent jump over the past five years.

An incredible 5244 domestic, and 480 VJBL, matches were also played, plus 40 Big V fixtures in a Bellarine record.

The association now has three shy of 3100 members.

Bellarine Storm basketball player Keegan Johnson, 15, has been selected to represent the state in Western Australia next week. Picture: Alan Barber

Bellarine manager Mark Brunger said a growing local population was behind the increase, with a lot of young families moving to the area, plus the “Boomers factor” of the national team’s bronze medal at the last Olympics.

“There is no doubt that Bellarine is bursting at the seams and little to no new court space available to cater with the continued growth we’ve been experiencing,” Brunger said.

“The game is growing faster than we can keep up with and the inability to increase our competition size means that we risk stunting that increase and development of the game.

“A new multi-court stadium on the Bellarine is vital to catering for the growth of the game in this region.”

However, he said winning a record five VJBL championships and an increase in referees over the past 12 months was the most pleasing aspect of 2023, with the pandemic causing many officials to drop off.

Bellarine Storm's premier women’s team have been promoted to the championship competition for 2024. Picture: Bellarine Storm.

“There was a really critical shortage of referees, with some not returning to the fold due to problems with behaviour towards referees across the board,” he said.

The association also saw new benchmarks across school holiday camp attendances (706) and school visits (48) plus Aussie Hoops and Slam Jam participation, with more than 600 children taking part in total.

There were also big lifts across the VJBL, with a record number of teams and tryout attendances for the under-14 division, with 68 children.

Originally published as Bellarine Peninsula Basketball Association has three shy of 3100 members after record-breaking year