It seems like every time i read a story or speak to someone about basketball here in Australia, it is met with negativity or furrowed brow. I have also been guilty perpetuating negative comments about our game also, mostly with the hope that there would be some healthy debate and that out of a constructive argument may arise some resolution, however perhaps it is time to start telling the Australian sports world all of hte grerat things about basketball.
I remember an interview of Paul Hogan many years ago, i do not recall the interviewer or the exact words but the message was this, Australia is such a great place that we do not need to go out tell people about it, because people will come here because it is grouse.....(not sure if Paul said grouse, but i hope you get the point).
Basketball is in my opinion the best sport in the world and we as people involved in it need to adopt the "Paul Hogan Philosophy" with one small change, the change is that we need to start telling people about it.
On this web site last night, i was able to watch the Boomers play the Chinese National team and it was reported that between 40 - 50 million people watched that game. that is lots of people. The upcoming world championships will be viewed by a billion people, the sport locally here is as popular as ever, today here at my offices at MSAC, there are ten courts busy all day with kids playing, yesterday the greats of our sport Andrew Gaze, Mark Bradtke, Michele Timms and Alison Tranquilly held a clinic for kids who were affected by bushfires over the years, public use stadiums here in Victoria (sorry for being victoria centric, but that is where i live) are at capacity every night of the week and there is demand for more venues.
Our Mens team is ranked 11th in the world and our womens team ranked second, we have players playing in college and in Europe and in the NBA and WNBA, we have coaches all over the world being leaders in their fields and our wheelchair teams are winning medals for their achievements in international tournys.
And in addition to all of these great stories, i heard of a recent story where a group of under 16 boys were riding a tram in the city here in Melbourne when another passenger had a fit of sorts, the rest of the tram vacated and our basketball boys stayed and rendered support until the Ambulance arrived. they then went on to win the National junior classic that weekend. Point is that the sport of basketball is playing a role in bringing up good citizens also.......
How can we get gthe word out to the masses that our sport is doing great things around the world and also here in Australia? i do not necessarily know the answer, but perhaps a start is to start thinking positively about the sport and the people who are involved in it.
A national registry for good basketball stories could start here on the gaze site..............thoughts please...!