Junior Bellarine basketballers had to wait for up to three weeks for a game, annual report reveals

Underage basketballers had to wait up to three weeks for a game due to limited court space last year, the sport’s peak body says, as the local association moves towards a permanent solution.

The Bellarine Peninsula Basketball Association is currently working on a business case for additional courts.

Bellarine junior basketballers were waiting up to three weeks for a game due to limited court space last year, the sport’s peak body has said in its annual report.

The Bellarine Peninsula Basketball Association had on average 3199 weekly domestic participants in 2024, “approximately 800 more than they can adequately service and are creating a significant number of bye games per week”, it revealed.

“Some children (are) playing basketball every three weeks. Again, due to lack of facilities,” the report revealed.

“Whilst further analysis is required to determine the factors in the increase, in some areas of Victoria, participation increase is being stalled due to lack of facilities.”

It comes as Basketball Victoria said there had been “record demand” for the sport across the state, with “tremendous pressure in all parts of the state to get access to courts”, with participation rates jumping by 3.5 per cent over the past year.

Bellarine Basketball Association's held a 3x3 competition at Drysdale on Saturday.

“Increasing the number of facilities that Victorians can participate in basketball is a key priority of Basketball Victoria now, and into the future,” it said.

The BPBA saw a near 20 per cent jump in total revenue, to $1.3m, and a 30 per cent rise in player registration fees to more than $264,000 in 2024, its own annual report found.

However, BPBA general manager Nick Stamatopoulos said the association had made great strides over the past 12 months to address the problem of children waiting so long for a game.

“There have been times that this happened because of other teams forfeiting and a scheduled bye getting in the way as well,” Stamatopoulos said.

The Bellarine Storm is enjoying strong success on court, especially in its women’s program. Picture: Bellarine Storm.

“Having two weeks with no game was a bit more common and has to do with the fixturing software as well.

“Numbers spiked after Covid and that’s when the issues started happening.

“But in the last 12 months, we’ve started putting a bit more effort and resources into fixtures so consecutive weeks with no play don’t happen very often.”

However, he did say there was a definite shortage of space with the association currently working on a business case for additional courts at its Drysdale base.

“There’s no shortage of kids wanting to play basketball – the only shortage is courts,” he said.

“We’re doing the work on the business case for the Bellarine Secondary College extension and we’re confident we could fill those courts seven days a week as soon as they’re ready.

“The demand is there – we just need the space.”

Basketball Victoria, in its report, expected six courts at Waurn Ponds and four at Armstrong Creek to “come online” over the 2025-26 period.

Originally published as Junior Bellarine basketballers had to wait for up to three weeks for a game, annual report reveals