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Basketball WA is pleased to welcome two new staff to the organisation, filling two new roles.

Officials Education & Development Officer
Basketball WA has appointed current State Basketball League referee Jessica Byrnes to this position. Jess comes to BWA as a current Panel Two SBL Referee and is also a graduate of the State Referee Development Program (SRDP) and National Referee Development Program (NRDP) in WA and is currently a holder of a National Officiating Scholarship with the Australian Sports Commission.

In addition to having officiated in gold medal games at various Australian Junior Championship tournaments, Jess also recently officiated in the WNBL Pre-Season tournament in Bendigo. Jess was heavily involved in implementing the Lakeside referee development program and has worked in the area of referee development for a number of years. Jess will be with BWA three days per week and will work in a number of areas around the development of primarily referees as well as scoretable officials and statisticians. This will range from our current course offerings, as well as working with Associations on the development of best-practice referee development programs at all levels.

Inclusion Officer
With the support of the Department of Sport & Recreation, Basketball WA has Nigel Esau to this new role. Nigel joins BWA from the Edmund Rice Centre in Mirrabooka who work with the CaLD community in the Northern suburbs of Perth. Nigel also has experience in delivery of basketball programs through Active After Schools as well as in South Africa.

Nigel will oversee all of the Basketball WA Inclusion program which includes the  Everyone’s Game Carnivals, Indigenous Program, as well as our new Cultural & Linguistically Diverse (CaLD) program that is being rolled out in conjunction with the Department of Sport & Recreation. Nigel will also be working with Basketball WA in a three day per week role.

Both Jessica & Nigel will commence with Basketball WA on November 10.