AFTER a month away from competition, Wangaratta’s basketballers will make their comeback to the hardwood this weekend at the massive Bendigo Junior Classic tournament.

The Warriors last took to the court in the first week of December, at the Greater Shepparton Basketball Tournament, and by all accounts a month away from the game is too long for the eager basketballers.

Wangaratta Basketball Inc president Adam Maher said the entire association was looking forward to the Bendigo tournament.

“I’ve seen a couple of players, they’re really working hard down there,” he said.

“They know they’re down at the business end of things, I know they’re really keen to get on the court this weekend.

“We’ve got 15 teams this year, around 140-odd athletes going across.

“For every team there are two coaches, a coach and assistant coach, as well as team managers, so we’re looking at sending a couple of hundred people, and all of the supporters on top of that as well.

“There’s an element of more excitement than normal, everyone’s normally pretty excited to get back after the break and back onto the court, but this time we’re onto the brand-new courts.

“There has been a good feel around the stadium over the last week or so.”

The first tournament back after the Christmas break is a good test to see how teams are tracking, with the chance to implement all the improvements they’ve been working at.

“This Bendigo tournament is always a really big and important one to get back into, to try and hone a couple of little things that need to be worked on in preparation for championships,” Maher said.

“It’s a fairly busy time after Christmas – we lead into Bendigo, obviously, first up, we’ve got Wodonga and Benalla and also camps for our under 18s fairly early in February.

“We’ve then got championships in March and April for a few other groups, the 16s, 12s, and 14s.

“It’s a fairly intense time now and it’s definitely down to business.

“We work all season to get championships, and see how far we can go there.”

Maher said the Bendigo tournament over the Australia Day weekend is always a highlight of the representative season, with visitors praising the facilities and the fervour with which they host.

“There’s no one who doesn’t like going to Bendigo,” he said.

“As a town, as a facility, as a basketball association, they don’t leave anything in the barrel.

“Their stadium is second to none – although I’ll say our show courts are getting up there – but they’ve got a fantastic facility there and everyone loves playing there.

“It attracts some really great sides, I think they’re up to around 300 sides this year, they come from all over the state.”

The Bendigo Junior Classic Tournament runs from Saturday, January 25 to Monday, January 27.