The Basketball Victoria (BV) Community Development team partnered with the Department of Education, through a funded program to deliver school based basketball clinics in term 2, 3 and 4 of 2022 and into Term 1 of 2023.

The program was an initiative of the Victorian State Government and Department of Education in which Basketball Victoria, along with 4 other sports, where funded to provide opportunities for school students to be active post COVID. This program exceeded our expectations, where we have been successful in delivering both Wheelchair Clinics and Skills & Fun Clinics at over 500 school visits, to more than 50,000 students.

Department of Education (DET) Senior Project Officer Preeti Maharaj noted,

“The student numbers for Basketball Victoria are spectacularly good. Thanks to you and the entire Basketball Victoria team for being part of something truly unique and so overwhelmingly successful”.

BV engaged coaches and their participation in this program across the 12 months was crucial and enabled the successful delivery of the basketball activity into schools across Victoria.

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Community Development Team Leader Basketball Victoria Jodie Harlow expressed her gratitude to all of the coaches involved,

“Your participation in the programs, across the past 12 months has meant that Basketball Victoria had a positive impact on students' wellbeing and development, and we see that many of the participants are transitioning to playing our sport at local associations.”

The legacy of this project has been the increase in BV’s investment in wheelchairs, the establishment of a maintenance program for all our wheelchairs and the development of a data base across coaches available to deliver the important clinics into schools anywhere in Victoria.

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DET’s Preeti Maharaj also stated, “We appreciate Basketball Victoria’s flexibility and adaptability when working with such a unique program where everything had to be constructed as it was being delivered.”

“Everyone in your team should be celebrating and I hope you know how much the school, parents, teachers and especially students have appreciated this opportunity.” Preeti added.

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The Community Development team are now working through the final acquittal process and also completing the evaluation of the program. That evaluation has been running alongside the program as it was delivered. Deakin University were engaged by BV last year to complete this work.

“With any significant investment, it is important that we careful evaluate and understand the positives and the areas for improvement of a project, through an evaluation process and Deakin have been a valued partner in completing this work.”

Basketball Victoria General Manager Member and Community Services, David Huxtable said.

The BV Program was designed to expose the students through the clinics, to basketball, get active and to develop skills and self-confidence, whilst learning to work within a team environment. Each school visit was attended by highly experienced coaches, who are passionate about providing guidance and education for a range of skill levels and ages, within a positive environment.

The program was able to provide education on the day of our clinic, whilst offering long-term opportunities, as each participating school were provided with one of our BV Basketball legacy packs.

The packs contained specifically designed education booklets and equipment to enable and empower school staff to continue the program after our clinic was conducted. The unique program gave the students the opportunity to experience one on one with the coaching staff, this allowed for our coaches to speak to the students individually to offer advice, support and to help grow the student's confidence. This evolved into students developing and understanding their own resilience on the court and can benefit all areas of their life.

“Basketball has again demonstrated our ability to deliver a large project to a significant school based population and we will continue to work with DET and others to explore ongoing possibilities in this space" David concluded.

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