Right: Riny lines up a shot at a Sunday training session of the Dandenong Basketball Association’s refugee program. By Nicole Williams
A DANDENONG basketball program is helping young refugees relate to their Australian peers.
The program, run in partnership between the Dandenong Basketball Association and Catholicare, is half way through the 10-week training and Dandenong Basketball Association Domestic Competition and programs manager Andrew O’Brien said it had been fantastic so far.
“They’re really loving it,” Mr O’Brien said.
“They’re always there before the coach, mucking around with the basketballs.”
Between 15 and 20 refugees from Afghanistan, Sudan and other countries are taking part in the course, which will give them the opportunity to play local competition basketball as well as help with integration.
The program is designed to help the young people relate to their peers in the playground when they start to attend mainstream schools.
“The main thing is that when they go to their mainstream schools, they see kids playing basketball and they’ve got something in common,” Mr O’Brien said.
“They can go out and play a game of basketball with the other kids at recess and lunch.”
Mr O’Brien said while some of the young basketballers, aged between five and 14 years old, had limited English they were not shy.
“They’re pretty outgoing – very confident and very enthusiastic,” he said.
They meet for two hours each Sunday, for skills training and a casual competition and are often joined by their families to watch.
At the end of the 10-week program, the participants will be put into the local mainstream clubs within the Dandenong Basketball Association.
It is the first time the program has run and Mr O’Brien said the Dandenong Basketball Association would like it to continue.
Coaching and equipment is provided by the Dandenong Basketball Association and all participants have been given a new pair of And1 basketball shoes.
