Basketball NSW and Wheelchair Sports NSW/ACT are very excited to confirm that on the 24th of June, the second season of the Waratah Wheelchair League will be tipping off at Niagara Park Stadium. Basketball NSW is hopeful of continuing the work done with Wheelchair Sports NSW/ACT to make this an even better season than the first.
2023 will see a new format introduced which will include 2 divisions.
- Division 1 will comprise 4 teams – 2 x Illawarra teams, Blacktown and 1 All Star team which will be selected by Wheelchair Sports NSW/ACT.
- Division 2 will comprise 6 teams – Canberra, Central Coast, Hills, Manly, Newcastle and Sutherland.
*We note players playing in Division 2 teams need to prioritise their main team should they be asked to play in the All Star team.
Each round will see all teams compete by playing 2 or 3 games a weekend to determine who will head to the Waratah League Finals Weekend. At the Finals weekend, the top 4 teams of each division will battle it out to see who will be crowned the 2023 champion of their division.
Will Hills Hornets be able to make it 2 championships in a row?
Full list of dates and venues are as follows:
- Round 1 – June 24th – Niagara Park Stadium
- Round 2 – July 8th – Minto Indoor Sports Centre
- Round 3 – July 29th – Shellharbour City Stadium
- Round 4 – August 19th – Kevin Betts Stadium (Blacktown)
- Finals – August 26th – Venue TBC
A new addition to this year’s competition is GTK coming on board as the major competition sponsor for 3 years. GTK are the leading Assistive Technology Equipment Supplier and pride themselves on working closely with each client to customise equipment and mobility solutions to support a life of independence and inclusivity.
With the inclusion of GTK as the major sponsor, it means that there are no on-court costs for the teams to play.
- Team nominations, court hire, referee & scorebench fees are all taken care of.
- Participants need to register with their local association through the inclusion registration of $11 plus GST and GameDay processing fee of 3%.
- The purpose is to have all participants registered eg. covered by insurance and to register with a team which signs up to the Terms and Conditions of participation. Noting there are two links if you are currently not registered.
- With regards to the Rollerhawks, we will communicate directly with their spokesperson to setup the registration process.
GTK will be attending all rounds with their technicians to provide assistance with all athletes’ equipment requirements for their games, as well as attending training sessions of each team to introduce their brand and assist the associations and teams with equipment education.
Also attending round 1 of the competition, will be a panel of qualified classifiers for those athletes who are not classified, but are interested in completing the requirements to become classified. For further information on classification, the requirements and a list of all athletes who are already classified, head to https://wheelchairleagues.basketball/about-us/classification/
BNSW will be continuing the development of our skilled referees and also hoping to increase the number of Wheelchair Basketball referees in our community by offering an online Wheelchair Conversion Referee course which was held on Thursday 25th May. By completing a conversion course, it opens up new and exciting pathway opportunities for our referees.
To assist BNSW and Wheelchair Sport NSW/ACT moving forward and learning how we can best develop this space, we will form a Wheelchair Basketball Advisory Committee. This will consist of BNSW staff, Wheelchair Sports NSW/ACT staff, athletes/coaches/referees and associations delegates. The group will comprise of max. 9 people and a draft Terms of Reference for the Advisory Group will be developed over the next coming weeks.