Basketball ACT 'can't wait any longer' for new courts

Chief executive Nicole Bowles is calling on the ACT government to help Basketball ACT secure more courts, adamant "projections show it's only going to get far worse".

The sporting venue debate has reignited in Canberra as the ACT government and its major sporting clubs stand on opposing sides of the city's stadium war.

But Basketball ACT fear they will be lost in the conversation as they hunt for more funding in the lead-up to June's ACT government budget announcement.

Basketball ACT has experienced a surge in player numbers over the past three years, with a record 7067 players registered for 2023 winter competitions compared to 4698 in 2020.

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Those numbers encompass players in under 10 age groups and above, failing to factor in learn to play and school-based programs which boost participation numbers by thousands.

"We've put forward a couple of options, our main one being a $30 million investment into the Belconnen precinct," Bowles said.

"We have put a pitch to the government for their consideration for this upcoming budget cycle to extend four new courts here in Belconnen, which will give us some relief, but once they're built, they will be full.

"I can't believe in the past four years we've grown by 50 per cent, and that's not just an ACT trend in basketball.

"Every basketball court and associations across the country is booming. Here in the ACT, we're really hamstrung by a lack of facilities and a lack of investment from government."

Basketball ACT has been crying out for more facilities for years in a bid to capitalise on the sport's popularity boom driven by the rise of Australian NBA stars like Canberra's Patty Mills.

Yet The Canberra Times revealed in 2021 Basketball ACT was looking to sell their block of land next door to their Belconnen Basketball Stadium because they'd been unable to get funding to build on it, while being forced to pay almost $600,000 in rates for the block over a decade.

"We've had that for over 10 years, so this is not a new initiative we've been working with the government on," Bowles said.

"We've taken our time, done our due diligence, we've got a shovel-ready project. It just needs some investment in the funding and then we're able to deliver it."

Basketball ACT uses multi-court venues at Belconnen and Tuggeranong for the bulk of its competitions, but the association has also been forced to exhaust its options at high school courts.

Schools including Daramalan College and Kingsford Smith High have been used to host competition games, but it can be a band-aid solution given school gyms are not always readily available.

"We're doing what we can within the constraints we have, to make sure we're looking after our people and make sure they're playing in safe spaces. There's only so much infrastructure around town," Bowles said.

"We've worked really closely with some schools in the area. We regularly play out at Daramalan College and we're working with Marist College to host some rounds for the first time.

"We're playing on Saturday and Sunday from 8am to 10pm. We're after community facilities that are at a competition standard for us. No one wants to be out at 9pm on a Saturday night trying to play a game of basketball while trying to juggle a family.

"Whilst we are looking to grow our juniors, we are an all-inclusive sport. We're doing lots of work in our wheelchair basketball program, and our intellectual disability programs to get more people playing basketball across the whole of Canberra.

"When you just don't have spaces to be able to put programs like that on at the right time and location, it makes it really difficult to be able to support the whole community who want to participate in basketball."

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