The Bellarine Peninsula Basketball Association is almost 100 teams above capacity

There are fresh concerns junior players will be turned away by the Bellarine Peninsula Basketball Association with facilities nearly 100 teams over capacity.

There are concerns Bellarine Peninsula Basketball Association will have to start turning away junior players with its facilities close to 100 teams above capacity this summer season

With a capacity of 274 sides, there are currently 366 teams for the 2023-24 season — an increase of 32 outfits on last year, with just shy of 3100 registered players turning out.

It’s a jump from 2422 this time last year.

The association also had 332 teams during the winter season with 2360 registered players, up from 1861 in 2022.

It comes as the association works on plans for a new complex adjacent to the existing one at Bellarine Secondary College.

Bellarine Storm junior players Rohan Jarvie, Jarvis Gleeson and Nathan Gronbeck. Picture: Glenn Ferguson

The Geelong Advertiser revealed earlier this year the association had to use courts at additional venues to meet demand, including local schools.

Association spokesman Mark Brunger said Bellarine had been forced to cap the number of men’s and women’s teams this summer to allow more kids to get access to courts.

It has also had to open up Saturday games, putting further strain on the time of its volunteers.

“We might have to eventually start turning young kids away from playing basketball,” Brunger said.

“That doesn’t help anyone.

“Traditionally we’d not run Saturday comp, but due to the squeeze we’ve had to.

“The reality is, we want to give as many kids as possible an opportunity to play.

“It does put extra strain on, you’ve got to have the volunteers.

“But at the end of the day, do we turn kids away? Or do we try to maximise as many opportunities as we can?

Bellarine Peninsula Basketball Association has proposed to build a new stadium to cater for demand. Picture: Bellarine Peninsula Basketball.

“We’ve already limited our senior competition ... so we can accommodate more kids.

“We’re looking at every option we can to keep them on court.”

In a facebook post, the association said court space remained a “major issue” for organisers, with “just about” every available facility in the region being used for its domestic competitions.

“The continued growth of our association continues to put pressure on how our competitions (are) run, resulting in sometimes challenging fixture arrangements to ensure we can maximise both the participation and running of all of our various levels of competition,” the association said.

Bellarine Peninsula Basketball Association vice president Gary Thompson, president Tony Kane, Member for Bellarine Alison Marchant and general manager Aarron Lothian. Picture: Bellarine Peninsula Basketball Association.

“Unfortunately, this means a number of measures to accommodate the large numbers of players and teams that we currently have, such as double byes and the recent introduction of Saturday timeslots.

“We appreciate that this can sometimes be inconvenient and provide logistic difficulties for players, parents and domestic clubs.

“However, without these measures, running a successful competition and allowing as much participation as possible, would be even more difficult than it already is.”

In a previous statement, City of Greater Geelong’s community services delivery director Robyn Stevens said it had provided funding to the association to develop plans for an expansion and would continue to advocate on its behalf.

“Unfortunately, given we have around $80 million in existing projects proposed to be put on hold due to huge cost increases in the construction sector, we don’t have the ability to fund new projects right now,” Stevens said.

Originally published as The Bellarine Peninsula Basketball Association is almost 100 teams above capacity