Tara Murray
Plenty of work is going on behind the scenes as Whittlesea City Basketball Association focus on the future.
Like all sporting associations, the Pacers have had some tough moments over the last couple of years during the pandemic.
Now with the worst of that hopefully behind them, the Pacers are focused on the future.
The association earlier this year appointed a new general manager in Jason Kelly.
Kelly brings plenty of experience to the role having worked at a number of clubs and at Basketball Australia.
Kelly said it’s an exciting time for the club.
“We’re working on a new strategic plan with Basketball Victoria,” he said. “There’s a general manager for the first time and there’s an exciting time with the development of the stadium going on.
“There’s a whole of positive things happening.”
Kelly said the strategic development plan would look to address a number of different areas with a number of key appointments happening.
Shannon Bodley has been appointed director of coaching. Bodley is no stranger to the Pacers, having coached both their women’s and youth league women’s sides previously.
Kelly said Bodley would work with coaches across the whole Pacers program as they look to help the junior clubs also recover from the impacts of the pandemic.
“We all recognise for the past two years we have experienced COVID lockdowns, and no basketball, and we need to re-engage and develop our players and coaches, which Shannon shares and is eager to make a difference,” he said.
“Shannon will hit the court running and will commence work immediately with the players and coaches in the junior and senior Pacers programs.
“Shannon will look to engage with our junior domestic clubs by helping engage with our junior domestic clubs by helping in educating, training, and providing advice to coaches, who as we recognise volunteer a lot of their time freely to ensure the kids get to play the game they love.”
Kelly said they were looking to appoint a new referees advisor in the coming weeks, with a shortage of referees something they were looking to address.
“We want to re-engage those referees that have left, retain those who we have and recruit new people.”
Kelly said the association was working hard to get back into the community through a number of different ways.
They will work with primary schools to run Aussie Hoops programs, while looking to get involved in sponsorship partnerships with the local community.
On court, one of the key areas the Pacers are keen to address in the plan is providing a pathway for females at the association.
This year the club withdrew its Big V women’s side after not being able to get the players.
Kelly said they would build off the youth league and under-18s girls programs to set the foundations and provide a sustainable pathway.
He said they want to have a women’s side back up and running within the next three years.
The Pacers Big V teams kicked off their season on the weekend, after deadline.
For results, head to www.starweekly.com.au.
