Noble Park T-Birds junior players (back) Adam Forster-Edwards, Nathan Krause, Edwin Guterres, Abdi Yadessa, Pamela Mery, Troy Guterres (front) Alin Coop, Grant Leake, and Cassey Mery.By Shaun Inguanzo
PARENTS need to lift their game if the Noble Park T-Birds Basketball Club is to transform into a family friendly club.
That’s the opinion of new club president Alfred Krause who, after five years of coaching and committee work, says he is tired of parents leaving to do other things while their children are playing basketball.
Mr Krause said his inaugural year of presidency had already seen sweeping transformations that he hoped would return the club to the powerhouse it was from the 1960s to the 1990s.
Mr Krause said the club was also seeking new junior players to reinvigorate the club’s membership numbers.
But he urged parents of current and future players to become involved with club duties such as scoring, timekeeping, coaching, administration and other activities – similar to the strong volunteer culture found in junior football clubs.
Mr Krause said parents had to involve themselves in their children’s sport rather than use it as a babysitting service.
“Family orientated is something the club has not been for the last five years,” Mr Krause said.
“I now want full commitment from parents because in the past it has been the same people showing up and running things each week and that is not good enough as far as I am concerned.”
At its peak during the 1990s the T-Birds fielded 38 teams from its senior and junior stables but now has just 50 members.
Helping to bolster numbers is a program run in conjunction with the City of Greater Dandenong that is feeding newly arrived Sudanese migrants to the club.
Mr Krause said there were initial challenges, mainly the language barrier, and secondly the lack of passports or citizenship required for registration to Basketball Victoria, the organisation running local leagues.
Mr Krause said basketball was a fun, safe and healthy sport that catered for all ages.
For more information or to join the Noble Park T-Birds contact Alfred Krause on 0400 512 784 or email alfshaz1@dodo.com.au.
