NEWS –
DIRECT FROM OUR FACEBOOK FEEDS
Steelers Head Coach expression of interest.We are seeking Expressions of Interest for a Head Coach as the 2 year tenure is up. If you are interested in joining the Steelers team, submit your application to steelers@whyallabasketball.com.au addressing the key criteria below. Applications close Sunday 5th of June.
Sadly earlier this week ex WBA gate keeper and WBA Life Member Ken Benford lost his fight with cancer.
Ken routinely manned the stadium entrance for us over 25 years. Ken initially took over from Bill Kemp (Pat’s Husband) our previous long time Gate keeper after he fell ill in the early 90’s. Ken was not a basketballer, but his kids had been involved for many years so he decided to put his hand up to help. He continued in this role as his Grandchildren came thru the junior ranks.
Ken also helped out with many other roles for the WBA over his time. He officially retired from his position in 2020.
Condolences to his wife Pat and his family, he will be missed.
😔 what a sad day, such a lovely man, always encouraging and wanting to know what I was up to. He will be missed, don't think there will ever be someone like him at the door of the stadium again 😢
So sorry to hear, condolences to ken's family he was an absolute gentleman ❤
So sorry to hear RIP Ken lovely neighbour and great Crows man condolences to all his family ❤💛💙
Condolences to his family will miss seeing him around the town 😥
RIP Mr Benford, such a lovely man. Condolences to the family 💕
Condolences to his family. He was always such a lovely person and would always stop for a chat whenever he seen yoi outside the stadium!!
Sorry to hear. Lovely man who always had a smile and a chat as we went in to basketball. RIP ❤️💛💙
Sincere condolences to the Benford Family. RIP Ken 💙💛❤
Deepest condolences to Pat and family 🌷loved the chats with Ken at basketball ❤️❤️
So sad to hear this will miss see him around
Condolences to all the family ken will be sadly missed 😥
Such sad news 😔 Many memories of growing up seeing Ken many times a week, always asking how you were & talking about his Crows! Condolences to his family.
Condolences to his family
Condolences to pat and family he did a great service to basketball 🏀 gone but never forgotten ❤️❤️❤️🇬🇧
RIP Ken such a wonderfull man and devoted supporter, sending love to his lovely wife Pat ❤️
Very sad to hear. Condolences to Pat & family. Our thoughts are with you all.❤️💙💛
R.I.P. Mr Benford - Was always great to see your smile at the door. Condolences to the family <3
Condolences to the family. I worked with Ken for many years.
RIP Ken. A very good friend. Love and prays to Pat and the family. ✨💖😢💖✨
So sad to hear. Condolences to Pat, Julie and rest of the family. Love Glen And Rod Smith and Steve Williams.💜
Rip uncle Ken condolences to auntie pat n family love ya all big hugs😢😢
I’m devastated to hear this news! Condolences to his beautiful wife and family, he will be greatly missed! ❤️❤️
Our sincere condolences to Pat and his family. x
Deepest condolences Pat and family. Treasure the wonderful memories 💖
Oh that’s sad. I will miss seeing him around. Condolences to the family from the Boundy family.
Attention all clubs. Training and forfeit invoices were sent out, however, I have just realised the bank information was incorrect on the invoices. I do apologise for this. I have corrected the invoices and resent them out for payment. Each invoice has gone to the club email addresses club@whyallabasketball.
Thank you
WBA Treasurer
Oops sorry always greeting us .
The following has been stolen from a club as a write up to their members. It is a very succinct account of the meeting held recently and the outcome which will
answer some of our members questions post on our page;
Winter Season Cancelled:
Official update
Club administrators recently met to thrash out a solution to our winter season dilemma.
Pre registration numbers were down by 50%. This made it logistically impossible to play the majority of our competitions. There were not enough numbers for divisions in any junior grades. And even with merging divisions (which is always a disaster) we still only had 2 viable girls competitions (U16G and U10's). Boys numbers were stronger but still very sketchy in the U12 and U14 age groups.
In seniors there were no viable men's competitions, and only one viable Women's comp (WC grade). We considered merging multiple grades to make competitions. But feedback was that player ability would be so disparate that this would not work.
It was agreed that it would not be fair to offer competitions for some age groups and not offers. The reduced 10 week season format, made trying to make all this work even less palatable.
The final decision was highly influenced by the reality of the end of Summer season. It was a train wreck! With a record numbers of forfeits and player absenteeism + loss of officials and critical support staff. Many of our finals were tainted by this and one GF even abandoned on the day.
Managing this from an administration point of view e.g. chasing fill in players etc, was a time consuming nightmare for our volunteer coaches and committee members.
Since then the number of cases in Whyalla has increased and continues to trend upward. It was also tabled that when the mask mandate was lifted in the eastern states case numbers Doubled or tripled, thus this situation is going to get worse!
At the moment football clubs are all struggling for numbers + Observations of Netball and Soccer currently scrambling to prevent game cancellations are bad signs for basketballs success.
The above facts plus being a higher risk indoor sport and up against these dominant winter sports unfortunately outweighed the desire to play.
Whyalla is spoilt in that the WBA is one of a hand full of regional Associations that offer Winter basketball. The WBA never suffered from a drop in membership in Winter 2020 when Covid shut down our winter season. In fact often the opposite occurs, having a break drives anticipation and interest come summer.
Having said all that it was extremely disappointing to have to cancel the season when we had so many people wanting to play 😞
Enjoy your break, we will back before you know it for a bigger and better Summer Season.
Open the doos for those that want to play and organise there own own scrimmage / games - basketball is bigger than covid ! Play on ballers !
Good one Savanna Higgins
Well said!
WINTER SEASON 2022
All Clubs met last night to work out where we were at in terms of numbers in an attempt to get Winter 2022 season off the ground. Despite numerous permeations being worked on for numerous grades throughout the association we were unable to make it work. Whilst some grades were completely full, other grades could not get comps together, our seniors would have needed up having multiple grades combined, ie A B and C grade combine to make a competition. All clubs present agreed that this was unworkable and not suitable to their clubs, as such it was decided that we will return for Summer 2022-23 without a winter season.
This is a sad decision, and we hate making it, anyone who understands the people involved in running our association would know that not having a competition running is a regrettable, but those same people have to ensure the long-term aspect of our association. The WBA will work hard over the break to ensure that we are ready to fire back into action when summer season rolls around. Please keep a look out for trainings that we will offer to get more refs involved, we are seeking more experienced members of association to put their hands up and get involved in umpiring, if you ever considered “giving back” to your sport this could be a way of doing so.
We will keep you informed as to any news, events etc during the break so keep an eye on the page. See you all at the commencement of Summer 2022-23, rest up, enjoy the break and most of all look after yourselves.
As much as i would have loved to see a winter season go ahead I think coming back in summer is a great decision.
Was there enough numbers to have a juniors only comp? Lots of young developing kids will be disappointed
So the senior teams were struggling for teams there was no mention of the junior teams, if there was enough junoirs wanting to play why cant there be a junior season
Sad decision but understand, Perhaps something could be arranged for the young one as suggested above ⬆️
Tough call. Will the assosciation consider running social games nights during the canned season?
Terry Jones-Mckenzie I just realised no winter season lylah is devo 🙁
I never seen a post to put down if playing or not.When was that on fb?
mm call me negative if u wish its not like i dont hear it alot but with covid running rampant already through schools do u really think its a good idea opening up another avenue of gatherings for it to be transmitted around especially with it coming into winter .
Katherine May-chapman
Alana Alexandra Bodinner
Kate Kroll
Jes Cooper
Any thoughts on having a Steelers like carnival played over a weekend between local teams and maybe invite port augusta or Lincoln teams , esp for junior grades . Charge players $20 each to keep funds up for WBA for improvements over the down time and help keep skills up for juniors . Just a thought 🤷
Macorhin Rosalia
Gabrielle Rosario Pereź
Jacob Chambers
Jaikara Marie
😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
The window for registering your intention to play winter season closes tomorrow night. We will be making decisions based on the numbers we have after close off. If and it’s an if we have enough numbers to make certain grades which maybe combined from the existing numbers we will be doing so from the persons that have registered
Please don’t hold off to see what happens and then think that there maybe spots for you or your team when grades/comps are made. You may find yourself disappointed if you don’t get your name down before close off tomorrow night.
Corey Taylor
Bethany Smith Angie Kimber
Kendall Perry ?
Ben King - can you please preregister Sienna
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