Dear Members and Extended Family,

Being my first correspondence for 2021 I hope everyone has had safe and happy Christmas and New Year period. The year 2020 will be memorable for multiple reasons. As the vast majority of the world went into lockdown we too had to close our doors for four and half months from the end of March through to early August due to the pandemic, and the terms social distancing, contract tracing, sanitizing and a host of others are now very much part of our everyday lives.

Although our year was severely interrupted, our domestic competitions and representative basketball returned on a condensed format for our junior’s representative teams before the September School holidays. The State Championships for boys and girls in under 12, under 14, and under 16 were conducted over this two week period with the under 14 girls State Championships being held here in Mackay at McDonalds Mackay Multi-Sport Stadium. Something I believe wouldn’t have been attempted for some time if not ever. This alone was a logistical challenge to say the least, especially for those Coaches who coached multiple teams and parents who had multiple children playing in different age groups. Not to mention the small pool of Referee’s and Referee educators we had to travel from one end of the State to other and live out of a suitcase for this period. Your resilience during this period didn’t go unnoticed.

Including our under 18 teams which competed in January all our teams performed and represented our city admirably. Special mention must go to our under 12 and under 16 girl’s teams who both finished State Champions. To finish first in the State is a huge achievement and the girls, coaches, parents and managers should be very proud of themselves. Congratulations to all the coaching staff, managers, athletes and parents of all our junior representative teams for all the time and effort and sacrifice that is required when committing to play Representative Basketball. Well done and thank you!

I’d like to wish our current under 18 teams the best of luck who started their 2021 State Championship campaigns yesterday on the Gold Coast. We wish the athletes, coaches, managers, referee’s, and managers all success and I’m sure they will represent our region with pride.

Another Ladies Daytime Basketball season concluded on Wednesday the 2nd of December with Allsorts taking out Division One final beating Souths Rollers, and Blujays winning the Division Two over Aussies. The executive would like to thank the Ladies Daytime committee, referees and volunteers on what was another great year of Ladies Daytime Basketball. 2021 will mark 50 years of Ladies Daytime Basketball in Mackay and I would encourage any Ladies who are looking for some exercise and great social environment to give the midweek competition ago in what will a special year for all those involved.

Our domestic competitions recommence in February on Sunday the 7th for Seniors and Saturday the 13th and Monday the 15thfor Juniors with only four rounds left before semi-finals and the season concluding with all our grand finals on our Super Saturday on March the 20th. I wish all the teams well and look forward to you seeing you back at the courts.

From a senior representative perspective, the back end of 2020 was arguably one of our busiest. The introduction of the Conoco Phillips CQ Cup gave our senior athletes an opportunity to get on the court after the NBL1 North was cancelled. Our McDonalds Mackay Meteors and Global Product Search Meteorettes went through the tournament undefeated culminating with both teams triumphing in their respective grand finals. The executive would like to thank the athletes, coaching staff and volunteers on what was a very successful tournament. A huge thank you to the sporting public of Mackay who got behind our local athletes, your continued support is very much appreciated.

During November we also had the privilege of hosting 8 Women’s National Basketball League games at McDonalds Mackay Multi-Sport Stadium. The WNBL games were a huge success with the executive receiving only positive feedback about our how our staff and our band of volunteers conducted themselves. Those involved worked tirelessly during this period working long days and nights to make the eight games a huge success. I’d also like to thank the State Government and our local Mackay City Council for bringing the games here to our great region. To have six professional WNBL teams come and play in our city was a once in a lifetime experience and one we’ll never forget. I’d also like to thank our very own Marianna Tolo and the Canberra Capitals for hosting a free coaching clinic for our young junior girls and Paul Gorris the coach of the Capitals for running a coaching clinic for our aspiring local coaches as well.

You throw in a number of NQJBC weekend carnivals as well and I’m sure you would agree that the end of the year was a very busy time for those involved.

Congratulations to the newly appointed coaches for the up and coming NBL1 North season which is due to start in May. Joel Khalu has resigned for a future two years to coach the McDonalds Meteors and Scott McKenzie has resigned to coach the Global Product Search Meteorettes in 2021. We wish them and their support staff all the best for season 2021 and fingers crossed the gods are kind and we get to see our teams back on the court in May.

Some you our members would have noticed a variety of positions advertised recently. Unfortunately in 2020 we said goodbye to three staff members Lukass, Joel and Jason who have moved on. With their departure we’ve lost a wealth of basketball knowledge and experience in their respected fields and we wish the three of them all the best with their future endeavours. In the coming weeks you will be informed of our first new appointments, starting with our new General Manager. Applications for the Coaching Development Manager close on Tuesday the 19th . The association this week advertised for a permanent part-time Business Development Manager who will look after the corporate sponsorship for all MBI programs and events. We are also looking to employee a publicity officer at the association which will be advertised very shortly. If you know of anyone who may be looking for a part time job (approx. 10 hours per week) with an eager interest in Mackay Basketball, Digital media and has journalistic talents please get in touch, we love to hear from you.

Last but not least is the 2021 PIMS Australia Day Carnival is fast approaching. Currently we have over 30 teams registered but need more, so if you haven’t already got yourself into a team do so. The carnival is always great fun and very social. Currently we have teams coming from Mt Isa, Emerald, and Rockhampton which is very pleasing. The Carnival is one of the oldest in Queensland going back to early sixties and has been host to some exceptional players, teams and characters over this long period. But most importantly is a weekend to catch up with friends you haven’t seen for a while and have a bit of fun playing the great game that is Basketball. It’s not too late to get a team together as registrations have been extended until Saturday the 16th. I look forward to seeing you all there.

As always, if you’re able to assist our association in any capacity, please give me a call on 0410 654 575 or email guy.simpson3@bigpond.com

Warm Regards,

Guy Simpson

PRESIDENT | MACKAY BASKETBALL INC.