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Hello and welcome to the October 2015 On the Rebound - I am Bryn Davies, President of Deaf Basketball Australia.

To start things off and our first rebound off the board - a massive congratulations to the Australian Goannas Basketball Team on their first gold medal at international level. This is the first ever team sport gold in Australia's deaf sporting history, a massive achievement and a worthy team after 2 years of hard work for the boys, Stretch, Ramas and Rod.

It is a great reward for all the sacrifices made within the team - a couple of players moved to Melbourne from NSW, another player still committed to the team's cause despite a family member battling cancer amongst the many sacrifices made for the team's pursuit of success.

As a result of the Gold medal, the Goannas are now set to prepare for the 2017 Deaflympics in Turkey, which they qualified for as a result of the top 2 finish at the Asia Pacific Deaf Games. The Geckos have also qualified, meaning both our mens and womens national teams will be attending the 2017 Deaflympics - a great time for deaf basketball at the moment!

Now with the most important part of this update - the Australian Deaf Games that are coming up in January 2016, 3 months time. After a few deliberations and consultations with state bodies over a number of months, DBA unfortunately had to inform the ADG Games Organising Committee (GOC) on 16th October that basketball will not be played at the ADG. This was a disappointing decision that DBA made, on the basis on the few teams that would be participating at the ADG. However, today, 27th October, Deaf Sports Australia asked DBA to reconsider their decision and do one more round of promotions to gain interest for deaf basketball players - so DBA are now using this update to get the word far and wide for any deaf or hard of hearing player, of any level - elite, domestic, social - to email DBA of their interest to participate at the ADG.

It is a bit strange that our mens national team has won their first gold medal, but at the ADG there is no basketball so we need to ensure that we do everything we can to try and have basketball at the Australian Deaf Games. It has not been played at the ADG since 2003, so it is now so important that basketball happens at the ADG to assist with the growth of the sport.

All levels are welcome, and please contact Bryn Davies on president@deaf.basketball.net.au as soon as possible. More information will be announced once we have sufficient numbers for the competition to go ahead.

Email NOW!

Thank you.