The Coast2Coast Seaside Classic, which is an “Odd Age” junior basketball carnival, will be played in Port Macquarie over the weekend and Taree Basketball will be presented in the U11, U13 and U15 girls and boys age groups plus two teams in the U17 boys divisions.

This event is the first step in helping to determine the teams to represent the Taree Tornadoes in the 2016 Northern Junior League which is the major representative competition running from March to August next year and taking in a geographical area covering Armidale and Tamworth all the way up the coast to Lismore.

Many of the players heading to Port Macquarie will be experiencing representative basketball for the first time and Taree Basketball wishes them success on court as they enjoy the fun of participating against players their own age from other areas of the State.

Saturday school basketball at Saxby’s Stadium will be affected by the exodus of players and their parents to Port Macquarie and as a result games will not be played tomorrow but will return on Saturday, 14 November 2015 for an uninterrupted run to the finals to be played next month.

Taree Basketball has been successful in arranging a beginner referee course and a level 1 score table course at Saxby’s Stadium on Saturday, 29 November 2015 and the basketball fraternity is urged to attend these courses to assist the development of the sport in the Manning Valley.

As a carrot to get people to attend, the cost to the course will be paid for you if you hold a current BNSW player registration card through Taree Basketball or are a parent of a junior player who holds one. Refereeing skills and score bench knowledge are both areas of the game that are needed from the entry level of the sport and it would be wonderful to have good numbers in attendance at these courses.

Gloucester Basketball hit town last Sunday for a series of games at Saxby’s Stadium against the Taree Tornadoes and what a fun day of basketball action it turned out to be. The U15 boys games produced the closest results with Taree taking the first clash 41 to 34 and Gloucester bouncing back to grab the second game by the narrowest of margins 44 to 43.

Taree claimed all the other games but the results didn’t matter too much because apart from the enjoyment everyone derived from the day it also provided the opportunity for people from both Gloucester and Taree to develop their playing, refereeing and score bench skills in a friendly environment.

The horse race on Tuesday reduced the basketball playing numbers in the senior ranks on Tuesday night with a couple of forfeits being recorded. Forfeits without sufficient notice create all sorts of bother for the teams who do turn up expecting a game, especially when they have travelled from Old Bar or Wingham for their weekly dose of basketball.

No doubt things will be back to normal next week and there will be a ‘forfeit free’ run to the finals to be played next month.

Saxby’s Stadium is the home of Taree Basketball and details about junior, women’s or men’s basketball may be obtained on the telephone at (02) 6551 7456, by email tareebasketball@hotmail.com , on the net at www.taree.basketball.net.au or www.facebook.com/taree.tornadoes