Basketball in Dubbo is being held back due to insufficient facilities, says Dubbo Basketball Association's Claire Hargreaves.
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The basketball in Dubbo is primarily held at Dubbo Sportsworld, as well as St John's College, Dubbo PCYC, Dubbo Christian School when extra courts are needed.
There are 80 registered rookie players aged three to 12-years-old, 320 juniors and 100 senior players.
Not having a dedicated basketball facility has created problems for the sport from the female toilets having to be used as a change room for away teams to insufficient car parking to a lack of cold drinking water.
Ms Hargreaves said one of the courts at Dubbo Sportsworld had been assessed by NSW Basketball and was found unsuitable to use for western junior league rounds.
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"This has resulted in our eight junior representatives teams never being able to play a round at home. This then means the cost of travel, etc. goes up and as an association we do not benefit financially as we are not able to run a round at home," she said.
She said when it rained, the courts at Dubbo Sportsworld couldn't be used at all, meaning games would either be cancelled or have to move to the Christian School.
There's also no availability to run anything during the school holidays.
We really need to be pushing [the sports hub] and making it an absolute priority...
- David Grant
Ms Hargreaves said the DBA would love to grow their competition, but at the moment there was no space to allow it.
In September last year, plans for a $44.5 million sporting hub were announced for Dubbo. The plans for the Western Region Institute of Sport included a new $6 million PCYC facility (in conjunction with Dubbo Regional Council), and multi-sport indoor courts and training facilities.
It would have included basketball courts.
However, in March, Dubbo Regional Council said it would not contribute $1 million to the Western Region Institute of Sport at Charles Sturt University in its current form.
Council decided to consider alternative locations for the Dubbo Regional Sports Facility if the leasing negotiations with CSU failed to deliver a term of less than 99 years. It is currently reviewing the concept and feasibility of the facility.
"The potential to grow basketball in Dubbo is huge if the council, government bodies, CSU and PCYC can work together to support the development of a stadium," Ms Hargreaves said.
"We are hoping council will support this development as they have done with the Dubbo Cycling Club which has a member base of just 100."
Dubbo Regional councillor David Grant agreed.
He said the city was doing itself a disservice by not having facilities to the same standard as Bathurst or Orange.
"We really need to be pushing [the sports hub] and making it an absolute priority to get it up and running," he said.
Cr Grant said basketball was growing worldwide, with a considerable number of Australians playing in the National Basketball Association in the United States. NBA players were also coming to Australia, he said.
Ms Hargreaves said she didn't want the wonderful opportunity to be lost.