Barry McCready Director of Coaching Westgate Basketball Association.

In the short time Westgate has been in existance (est. 2012) it has developed into as an association beyond it's domestic junior competition to include a representative program that is known in the wider basketball arena. I have been pleased to have been a part of that and have overseen the VJBL program, as well as playing an active role in the grassroots and domestic competition since 2014.

In the 2013 /14 season we had two teams:

U12 Boys – Grand Final Runners Up  U16 Boys – Semi Finalist.

In the 2014 /15 season we had seven teams, with three teams making semi finals and one team making the preliminary final.

In the 2015 /16 season we have nine teams, with the added bonus of a girls U12 team and boys U18 team.

     In 2015 at the VJBL AGM Westgate Basketball Association was awarded the Best Small Association trophy which I was pleased to accept along with the plaque on the night.

The expectations for my role are:

To ensure that we have a representative team in each boys & girls age group.

We are working towards this with the ongoing development of our domestic program and various support programs such as Aussie Hoops & Pink Ball.

To have domestic coaches trained to a level that they can advance to be representative coaches.

We ran a Club Coach (Level One) course in October 2015 in conjunction with VJBL, and with over twenty coaches from our Imperials coaching team as well as our domestic coaches in attendance, we have strengthened our coaching base.

To make sure each representative player develops skills to make them competitive at representative level.

Our coaches (Imperials & domestic) have been given a handbook which contains a skill set for each age group that must be followed to ensure that each child develops and achieves the skill base required. Once the player has achieved competence at their own age group skill set, they will be challenged to achieve the skill set from the next age group.

To conduct specialist clinics to assist in player development.

By attending domestic competition on Saturdays, I have been able to identify area’s that players & coaches need improvement.

From this I am able to run coach & player clinics on various basketball aspects, utilizing available courts and making the most of having coaches & players already in attendance.

A Rep Ready program will be operating again this year, to also assist players who want to come to try outs and give them drills & exercises they should expect at tryout.

Where to from here?

With growth & experience into the future, we need to start consolidating our teams as strong VJL representative teams, with potential to establish ourselves at VC level.

From our current U16 & U18 players, we will look ahead at taking the big step into senior competition – Big V.

This is the goal I have for Westgate Basketball Association.

Barry McCready

Director of Coaching