news

The second ‘Everyone’s Game’ Basketball carnival was held at the WA Basketball Centre in Mt Claremont on Sunday 20th of February, and provided a fun experience for all players, coaches and spectators.

The carnival, organised by Basketball WA in conjunction with Inclusion WA, for athletes with disability, was attended by well over 200 people.

Eight groups from around the Perth metropolitan area entered into the carnival; ROAD’s (Queens Park), Special Olympics (Hamersley Recreation Centre), Swan Friendships (Altone Park) and Perth Hills Education Support (Kalamunda), with each group entering an ‘A’ and a ‘B’ team.

As this was the second carnival many teams were out for revenge, and this translated into some tough competition! It was great to see the fierce rivalry out on the court, but perhaps even more encouraging was the fantastic sportsmanship shown by all players, coaches and parents. A special congratulation must go to the ROADS group, who for the second time in a row won both the ‘A’ and ‘B’ divisions.

As a result of the carnival a number of players were chosen to bolster the Ivor Burge WA Development Squad. The Ivor Burge National Basketball Championships is a competition for athletes with an intellectual disability. Within Ivor Burge there is both a male and female competition. The championships run every year at the same time as the under 20’s national championships and is named in honour of Ivor Burge – one of the founding fathers of basketball in Australia.

The development squad is the result of a partnership between Inclusion WA, Basketball WA, and a number of key individuals within the Perth basketball community, in particular David Maxwell, who is the current head coach. The aim is to create male and female development squads, who train monthly at Basketball WA. These training sessions will give players an opportunity to fine tune their skills and work on set plays with their team mates. Sunday’s carnival is another great step towards selecting the teams and sending a WA representative squad across to the national championships next year. With Basketball WA’s continued support the West Australian sides are sure to make a big impact in the competition.