Sport can bring out the best in us and on the flip side of that the worst in us. Our competitive nature focuses on outcomes rather than the experience and while we want to win I would like to remind everyone no one is out to sabotage anyone from winning. This includes referees, court supervisors, coaches, athletes and parents.
So can I ask you all to consider the following especially leading into the next 5 weeks of competition and beyond?
- Be supportive and positive – the kids are there to have fun and feel included no matter what role, position or division they participate in.
- Referees are people and a majority of them are children themselves in our junior leagues. They do their best and just like to players and coaches they sometimes make mistakes. Treat them with respect!
- Posting things all over social media platforms is not the most ideal way of dealing with issues. We deal with all issues as they come up with the relevant associations, participants and parents and the resolution may not be known or visible to everyone due to privacy and duty of care to those involved.
- We are an inclusive multicultural sport and we will not accept or tolerate any vilification or victimisation of anyone who is participating in any of our leagues in NSW.
So can I ask everyone to be supportive without being angry? Enjoy the kids playing and be let’s be positive!
Alcohol is not appropriate at junior games and we are asking our associations to manage alcohol in a responsible way where it is served during senior league games.
Basketball is a fantastic sport so let’s enjoy every game and celebrate our diversity and how much it brings to the whole family of our sport!
Warm Regards,
Maria