Dear Members and Extended Family,

I wasn’t intending on sending out a post so close to my first but thought members needed to be kept up to date with what will be a very busy period for the association. The COVID-19 Pandemic has thrown many challenges at all of us in a variety of ways and unfortunately the situation is far from over. If there is a positive to come out of this pandemic, it’s the opportunity we have been gifted to host eight WNBL games at our McDonald’s Mackay Multi Sports Stadium, with six women’s national league teams visiting our wonderful city. I hope all of our members and the general sporting community gets behind these games and helps make them a success.

I’d also like to thank Kieron Place for his work with the future plans for the old outside courts. As you can see these plans include resurfacing the remaining outside court and providing additional basketball systems on all sides of the court for our members and the sporting community of Mackay to use. New drainage and additional concreting of the area between the stadium and the outside court will also be required. Although only concept plans, the building extension to the south from the canteen will include additional amenities including a community room that can be used by our members and the community for a variety of activities

On Friday the 25th of September we were fortunate to have a visit by Senator Mathew Canavan, and the LNP candidate for Mackay Chris Bonanno to discuss our current facility and the infrastructure we require in the immediate future. I’d like to thank Chris and Mathew for their time and for renewing my faith in politicians. We have also requested a meeting with the incumbent member for Mackay, ALP’s Julieanne Gilbert and hopefully look forward to meeting with Julieanne soon.

In my last post I thanked all volunteers within the association and clubs for their tireless work assisting to re-establish our competitions after our closure due to COVID-19. One important group of volunteers I failed to mention were the committee members and volunteers for our Ladies Daytime competition. I had only been down and had morning tea with the ladies on the Wednesday morning prior to my post and we discussed what I intended to mention. I sincerely apologise for omitting to mention them. Committee member Marion Harris occasionally baby sits our three girls so I’ll never live this down.

But on a serious note, Judi Hicks, Marion Harris, Heather Murphy and their team of volunteers, referees and supporters do an amazing job in running a great competition on Wednesdays. Next year actually marks 50 years of Ladies Daytime Basketball in Mackay. I’m sure you all agree this is an amazing accomplishment and all past and present players, volunteers, and supporters should be congratulated. Those of you who may be interested in joining a team and having a run on a Wednesday morning please give the staff a call on 49575543 and they’ll point you in the right direction.

On Friday the 25th of September we were fortunate to have a visit by Senator Mathew Canavan, and the LNP candidate for Mackay Chris Bonanno to discuss our current facility and the infrastructure we require in the immediate future. I’d like to thank Chris and Mathew for their time and for renewing my faith in politicians. We have also requested a meeting with the incumbent member for Mackay, ALP’s Julieanne Gilbert and hopefully look forward to meeting with Julieanne soon.

In my last post I thanked all volunteers within the association and clubs for their tireless work assisting to re-establish our competitions after our closure due to COVID-19. One important group of volunteers I failed to mention were the committee members and volunteers for our Ladies Daytime competition. I had only been down and had morning tea with the ladies on the Wednesday morning prior to my post and we discussed what I intended to mention. I sincerely apologise for omitting to mention them. Committee member Marion Harris occasionally baby sits our three girls so I’ll never live this down.

As you could all imagine we will need extra help to get through this busy period, as we also have our very own McDonald’s Meteors and Global Product Search Meteorettes playing in another two home games in the CQ Cup with the possibility of an additional two weekends of finals if they both finish on top of the table. We also host an NQJBC U/18. So as you would imagine, the additional workload over the next 7 weeks hosting the WNBL, CQ cup, NQJBC, and our regular fixtures will prove very demanding.

I envisage we’ll need additional volunteers to assist on game days and nights due to the sheer volume of games we’re hosting over this short period of time. I will also need assistance in planning for the 2021 Australia Day Carnival and the 60th Anniversary of Mackay Basketball being celebrated next year as well.

I’m asking for any past or present members, parents and supporters out there who aren’t already helping out at an association or club level, to please give me a call on 0410 654 575 or email guy.simpson3@bigpond.com

Again and I stress, only those who aren’t already committed elsewhere.

Warm Regards,

Guy Simpson

PRESIDENT | MACKAY BASKETBALL INC.