THE domestic basketball season culminates this Saturday with a blockbuster Super Saturday grand final day at the Wangaratta Sports and Aquatic Centre. A whopping 17 grand finals will be played using the three new courts from 12.30pm, with Wangaratta Basketball Inc securing a Place of Public Entertainment (POPE) permit to utilise the as yet unopened courts. The new $12.9 million basketball courts are awaiting an occupancy permit concerning fire safety to be completed before they can be utilised fully by the public, however, WBI has secured the go-ahead to make sure the biggest day of their domestic season is played on the biggest stage possible. WBI president Adam Maher said it was the end of a long and at times frustrating process, but he couldn’t wait to see the association’s young ballers in action on the new courts. “There’s a good buzz around the basketball community, and I think you can extend it out to the wider community,” he said. “Everyone’s had small frustrations but I’ll tip my hat and give some credit to Brendan McGrath (Rural City of Wangaratta CEO) and the council, they’ve come to the party and recognised this will be a great thing to show their support for basketball and the wider community. “That’s the reward, to see what the kids’ faces will be like. “The reward will be the kids saying ‘oh my god, I’m on these brand new courts finally’, I’m really excited to see it. “We’ve got some under 12s and that who are pumped, we’ve put the under 12 As on the show court, they’re really excited to get that all going.” The anticipation has been building all week, with the semi-final clashes concluding Wednesday evening. The club will be hosting a barbecue between 1-4pm, which will no doubt add to the atmosphere on the day. Maher said it was going to be a massive day. “We’re all locked and loaded, Wednesday night has been and gone, the last of the semi-finals have been played, and all the sides are set for our Super Grand Final Saturday,” he said. “There are 17 games including the senior games – there are three senior games and 14 junior games from under 10s boys and girls right up to under 18 boys. “Across the day we could see somewhere around 1000, I think it’ll be quite a packed day.” Maher wished to thank the entire community and volunteers for rolling with the punches on the new courts project, and said the grand final day was a taste of what the club could accomplish with the new courts. “I’d just like to thank the community for all their support and understanding over the last two-and-a-half, three years,” he said. “I’ve always said we’re going to have to go through a bit of pain to get the gain – we’ve probably gone and endured a lot more pain than what anyone thought, but I think as a whole the basketball community has really supported our inability to run what we’d call a normal domestic comp and all the other comps we run, and understanding how it all works. “There have been a lot of hurdles to get over, but I think the only reason we’ve got to this point and gotten over those is because of our community and how much support and patience and endurance the basketball community has.”
