New program balances work and play
Fri 04 November 2011
Kiani Milsom, Bachelor of Journalism
The Noosa District Basketball Association is starting a program that will help high school students become more active each week as well as benefit their schooling.
The Noosa Leisure Centre in Noosaville introduced a plan that grants Noosa Cyclones players weekly payments if they spend a minimum of eight hours associated with the club.
Noosa District Basketball Association (NDBA) operations manager Wendy Hunt said the players would get paid to spend time at the courts, and the program also counted as an extracurricular activity for their last two years in high school.
“The players of our Noosa Cyclones teams can get $A78 every week for spending eight hours being a part of Noosa Basketball each week,” Mrs Hunt said.
“Five and a half hours of the whole eight hours comes out of their regular training and games.”
Mrs Hunt said the extra hours could be made up by helping out on the score bench, coaching the junior teams and helping with first aid, which most of them already did in their spare time.
“Most of the older kids help coach and play referee to a number of games each week anyway,” Mrs Hunt said.
“The Federal Government provides the weekly payments for the players but for the kids to help out and be paid for it really helps the committee with the volunteer basis of the club.”
Mrs Hunt said as an extracurricular activity through the schools, the players also collected 12 points towards their Year 12 certificates.
“The school based part helps the players in their last year of school to be able to continue playing as regularly as they have been without interfering with their school work,” Mrs Hunt said.
“Especially in year 11 and 12 when the players are focusing on working hard for their OP’s and class certificates as well as being a part of a sports team.
“Hopefully it will take the pressure off the older kids to know that playing basketball during the week is not interfering with their school work but helping them with it.”
Mrs Hunt said the idea for this new program came from an email she received from an AFL team manager who already had this program in place for his club.
“When I got the email I contacted another Noosa committee member, who followed it up for Noosa Basketball,” Mrs Hunt said.
“The Runaway Bay Basketball Club in the Gold Coast is also starting the program and both clubs should have it up and running by the end of October this year.”
Mrs Hunt said players had to be 15 years old by the first of October, 2011, to be able to sign up, in the under 18 age group.
Players that were already a part of the club but were finishing year 12 this year were not eligible to participate because it was already so close to the end of the school year.
“All of our Under 18 rep kids are doing it, we just have to sign all the other kids up and then have someone at the club documenting their hours,” Mrs Hunt said.
“Playing sport for a club is expensive considering all the costs so it’s a win-win situation for everyone.”
One of the Noosa Cyclones under 18 players Jordan Smith, who is also a year 11 student at Sunshine Beach High School, said he was excited about the new program.
“I’ve played for Noosa for about four years now and I’m always at the courts playing or mucking around but now I can get paid for doing it,” Mr Smith said.
Because he played for an Under 18 team, Mr Smith said the games sometimes did not start until late at night.
“School’s getting pretty hectic and our games don’t start until almost 9 o’clock at night, sometimes because were older than a lot of the younger kids that play here," Mr Smith said.
“Getting points towards our grade 12 certificate for playing is a really good idea.”
Mr Smith said his mum was always helping out with car trips to his games at other basketball clubs, and his parents paid for all the costs of his basketball fees.
“Sometimes we play against teams in Maroochydore, Brisbane and even the Gold Coast,” Mr Smith said.
“The mums of our team usually come along to help with driving us all there and to look after us.
“Getting that money every week will help me to pay for some of the fees my mum usually pays for.
“I can even start paying for my own basketball shoes and gear if I save it up.”
Image(s) designed by Kiani Milsom
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Submitted Comments
Good article and a great way to get kids motivated to do something. Where I am from they have courses like this for many different sports not just basketball.
Wesley