news

Basketball WA have recently appointed new staff to our regional offices. They play a vital role in helping grow the game of basketball and providing support and guidance to our members in the regions.

We would like you to meet:

Anita Reca – Regional Development Officer (Great Southern)

Anita has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the field of basketball but is also passionateabout the game, from when she started playing basketball from the age of six in Latvia.

In way of background, Anita co-created a club in the United Kingdom where she ended up winning a fair few championships and then worked as a Regional Development Manager with Basketball Scotland where she also coached a few youth national squads.

Anita then moved out to Bunbury in recent years and played for the South West Slammers, which followed with coaching the NBL1 female squad last year. Anita has also volunteer coached all across the South West region in schools, community events just to name a few along with helping PCYC organise their 3×3 events.

On joining our team at BWA, Anita has said, “It’s been long time coming but I’m finally here. I’m looking forward to support, grow and educate the very base of future of basketball. At the end of the day, it all starts with community participation and young kids, so capturing them young and passing on even a little bit of the love for sport whilst showing how it can benefit their life positively is at the front of my mind. Providing some more pathways for the regional athletes, coaches, and volunteers to be exposed to elite in our sport. Just working together to drive the love for the game is what excites me the most.”

Wayne Hayres – Regional Development Manager (Peel and South West)

Wayne Hayres joins BWA as our new Regional Development Manager for the Peel and South West.  This role gives expanded focus to our growing Associations within the Peel region, such as Waroona, Pinjarra and Byford.  Wayne brings a wealth of basketball experience to the role and a lifetime’s commitment to developing basketball within our regions.  Wayne was a State representative junior and then went on to coach in numerous roles, both as an SBL and a State coach.  As a coach, Wayne won the SBL championship with the Wolves women and coached the Buccs men to back-to-back grand finals.  He was awarded SBL Coach of the Year honours in 1997.  He also spent a season coaching in the NBL with the Cairns Taipans as an assistant.

Wayne has spent many years on the Boards of South West Slammers, Bunbury Basketball Association and Harvey Basketball Association.  He is passionate about offering governance support to the Boards of our Associations in the South West and Peel regions and about coach development throughout basketball.

Alex Ciabattoni – Development Officer (South West Slammers)

Alex Ciabattoni starts work in the newly created position of Development Officer for the South West Slammers. This is a new initiative jointly funded by the South West Slammers and Basketball WA.  It is designed to give focused attention to the player development pathway in the South West, so that talented junior athletes feel supported from the time they pick up a ball to the moment when they star for the Slammers in their NBL1 West sides.

Alex, or Chibba as she is better known, is a highly accomplished professional athlete, who is well known to fans as a current player in our Perth Lynx team.  She has played professionally in the WNBL since 2015, both for the Adelaide Lightning and Perth Lynx, winning the WNBL Rookie of the Year Award.  She has played college ball in the US and played professionally in Europe and for a number of teams at NBL1 level across Australia.  Alex has also worked as a basketball development officer for the Rockingham Flames.  She is bound to inspire a new generation of basketballers, particularly young women, in the South West.

Together these two roles offer greater support for basketball in the Peel and South West regions, areas where basketball continues to flourish.  In the South West alone, there are now more than 7,000 registered members.