South Canterbury’s basketball boom is only growing, with 10 under-13 teams being sent to the South Island regional representative tournament in Ashburton next month.
Five boys’ and five girls’ teams will be sent to represent South Canterbury, making it the most-represented region attending.
Larger associations such as Canterbury and Otago usually only send about six teams.
The teams will be participating from A grade down to the more developmental grades.
South Canterbury Basketball Association general manager Sean Fuller said despite the number of teams being sent, they still had turn away more than 120 players who trialled to be a part of the rep sides.
‘‘Last year we sent three boys’ and three girls’ teams, but this year at trials we had 120 boys and 100 girls show up.’’
That meant cutting numbers by roughly half.
‘‘It took quite a bit of work to get through.’’
Fuller could not put his finger on exactly what the source of interest in basketball was.
‘‘The sport gets promoted pretty well at a national level and the fact you get to play inside and won’t get wet helps.
‘‘Most of the competitions aren’t on weekends which probably has something to do with it. The influence of the NBA is maybe a big factor too.
‘‘I honestly have no clue how it’s got so big — it just keeps getting bigger all the time.’’
He said numbers had been increasing for the last decade, but had really taken off in the last four years.
‘‘There was big jump where the numbers almost doubled.’’
The Timaru primary schools competition kicked off on Monday night with 110 teams registered to play.
The secondary and intermediate schools competitions have about 70 teams registered.
Fuller said he believed numbers would continue to rise, but they were being hindered by available court space.
The competitions are held at the Southern Trust Events Centrein Morgans Rd.
‘‘At the moment we only have the three courts, so we try to share with some of the schools on Friday nights.
‘‘We use the Roncalli, Craighead and the [Timaru] Boys’ High gyms just to get the teams through.
‘‘Our primary and intermediates are very much stuck with just the three, though.’’
Fuller said it would be great to hopefully look towards getting a bigger dedicated basketball space in Timaru.
‘‘There’s always plans, but it’s just trying to push those through.
‘‘A bigger venue would make it a lot easier for everybody.’’
He said that due to the sheer number of teams and games to get through, games were being made shorter and shorter.
‘‘You can’t have little kids playing at 10 at night.
‘‘Aat the moment, the year 5 and 6 teams aren’t finishing until about 8.30 and the year 3 and 4 teams at 7.30.
‘‘We’d like to run year 1 and 2 school games, but it’s just trying to get the court time.’’
Ideally Fuller said he would love a giant box with 10 courts inside.
‘‘It’s not so much about having an aesthetically pleasing stadium, but just something that serves a purpose.’’
Despite the logistical issues he said it was still great for the sport and children were enjoying themselves, which was the main thing.
