DVBA CEO ROSS WIGNELL DISCUSSES 2016 AND BEYOND

With many visible changes going on in the Diamond Valley Basketball Association, there’s a lot to be excited about for 2016 and promise for the years to come.

‘When I took on the CEO role in 2013, cash flow was a major issue on the business side for the DVBA. We had several unnecessary expenses, and certain expenditure that required reigning in to get us to a sound position. On court, we were doing a reasonable job but I just felt that we needed to be more specific, and pay closer attention to our grass roots - leading to a better understanding for our player, coach and referee pathways – to give the sport the chance to continue growing locally’, DVBA Ross Wignell said.

‘‘We’re committed to servicing our current and future members – we’ve invested time and knowledge into the coaches with education and clinics, and into the players with programs for all levels, a schools program and holiday camp program that has been growing rapidly, to the point of sellouts and waiting lists, in particular our Domestic camps. Just last weekend we had a tremendous turn out for our NAB Under 8 Domestic introduction day, which was attended and coached by our men’s and women’s Big V players’, Wignell states.

‘A major goal has been to improve the state of our home facility – as the size of the Association increases, our programs have outgrown use of only the Diamond Valley Sports and Fitness Centre, and we commonly use other external venues to provide our members with opportunities to be involved in the sport. The issue faced thereafter was that these external venues were cosmetically better than our home facility.’

Diamond Valley Basketball will celebrate it’s 40th year anniversary in 2016, a tremendous achievement for a little idea hatched way back in 1976 to give local players a vehicle to enjoy the sport.

‘Up until our recent renovations, in it’s 39 years of existence, the stadium hadn’t changed all that much, and I think it was important to reward our members, the local community and basketball community’s patience, commitment and loyalty to us by finding a way to generate the funds needed to then re-invest back into what you see today – a much better playing atmosphere for our DVBA members’, Wignell explained.

With such a vivid upgrade in use, look and practicality, it is important to understand that there has been a lot of behind the scenes work and time invested into the improvements one can see today.

‘It was part of short-term goal of ours, a 2 year plan, and it has paid off. Of course we have more work to do and more aspirations – but this is something we can be proud of today.’

The question then becomes – where to from here ? What is one of the next paths the Association can take to continue giving back ?

‘As numbers of participants continue to grow, we’re well aware that we need more courts on-site to meet the demand. We have actioned a Diamond Valley Stadium Development blueprint, with the plan to increase the facility to 10 courts preferably in the near future. We need to be looking into the future, and planning for it, to continue our success.’ 

‘We’re excited for our people and visitors to enjoy the new and improved courts that we’ve been able to have a hand in, from the new big screen to the court border and the seats in the grandstand, we even contributed to the painting. This re-investment allows our home to be comparable to the external venues we outsource to. Countless hours of work from the Executive has put us in a position to do what we’ve done and it’s something our members can take pride in, especially given the timely manner of 2016 being the 40 year anniversary of the DVBA – we can all be proud and feel happy at home here’.




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