“Where’s our facilities?”: Basketball Tas boss pleads for help to address court crisis

Basketball Tasmania’s boss has penned an open letter pleading for government help to address a critical shortage of adequate facilities to sustain the sport’s growth as the Jackies prepare for the NBL grand final series.

Basketball Tasmania juniors before a representative tournament earlier this year. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Basketball Tasmania boss Ben Smith has delivered a scathing and passionate plea for the sport’s facility crisis to be addressed, accusing politicians of “taking turns patting each other on the back” for the JackJumpers’ success while community basketball struggles.

In a lengthy open letter to the ‘basketball community’, Smith vented his frustration at the highly inadequate number of courts available which has forced children on waitlists to play, and “clubs with well over 500 members and 50 teams operating out of volunteers’ garages.”

The sport is currently the talk of the state given the Jackies are preparing for the NBL grand final series against Melbourne United beginning on Sunday.

This week, the state government confirmed they will match Labor’s election commitment to provide $21.5 million for upgrades to Launceston’s Elphin Sports Centre, which Smith described as “only scratching the surface.”

“(The Tasmanian basketball community should be) outraged at the ongoing 50-year lack of investment in community basketball facilities – in Tasmania for Tasmanians,” Smith wrote.

The harsh reality is that 57 per cent of basketball associations across Tasmania do not have a home ground or club rooms of any sort. Can you imagine the noise if AFL, football and cricket were in the same boat?

Every single AFL club in Tasmania has a home ground – a facility they can use whenever they desire. They can host home games, train when it suits and hold various social functions in their club rooms.

“Which begs the question, where are the facilities for basketball?”

Basketball Tasmania boss Ben Smith. Picture: Supplied

Smith welcomed the state government’s recent announcement they’ll invest $25 million to develop a sports precinct in Devonport, should they win the election next Saturday.

But he said the facilities in Hobart are in a dire state and need to be urgently addressed.

“The Devonport project has the potential to provide an outstanding regional hub for Basketball, while the Launceston development only scratches the surface,” he said.

“Three of the overall 17 courts required are being funded through the Elphin Sports Centre re-development.There is an overwhelming lack of appropriate indoor basketball facilities in Hobart to support the execution of sustainable basketball programs.

“All facilities in Hobart are now at capacity, with children on waitlists to enter rosters, and clubs not having homes to conduct games or development programs in, let alone train at.

“In Hobart, 16 courts in four hubs would enable community basketball to imagine a future – on some sort of level playing field with AFL, football, cricket, lawn bowls, tennis and golf.

“What an amazing dream for basketball – appropriate courts and homes for basketball clubs in a sport that is experiencing rapid growth statewide.

“Apparently, such a dream is outrageous.

“So, the JackJumpers march on while our politicians take turns patting each other on the back for their amazing foresight and investment. Meanwhile, Tasmanian community basketball clubs with well over 500 members and 50 teams are operating out of volunteers’ garages.”

Juniors training very early in the morning, well into the night and roster games starting late at night during the week is now commonplace due to court shortages.

The JackJumpers are preparing for the NBL grand final series. (Photo by Will Russell/Getty Images)

“Kids are forced to train in the early hours of the morning or late into the evening as a result of court shortages and not only that, they have to pay for court hire every single second they train or play,” Smith said.

“They pay third party operators for every snack or drink from the canteen after a session, they pay to hire commercial venues for every club social function, they pay and pay and pay.

“They all pay council rates and taxes too – but then pay a second time to actually use the community sporting facilities in their municipalities.

“Last time I checked, the abundance of playgrounds, barbeques, mountain bike trails, outdoor ovals and grassed spaces were free to use for casual users, and easy to access for organised sport because there is no financial barrier.

“The basketball community spends $3.4 million dollars a year hiring multi-sport courts when accessible and in 57 per cent of cases have no access to any mechanism to recover any of these costs through canteen or bar sales.

“Inaction on the Wilkinsons Point project and no promised funding for courts in the south leaves community basketball’s future hanging in the balance.”