Representing your association at an U/14s National Championships is a great honour.

And that’s exactly what Werribee referee Tate Wheatland will be doing after being selected by Basketball Australia to officiate at the upcoming tournament in Ballarat this September.

At just 18, Tate has quickly become one of Werribee’s leading referees and said he can’t wait for the challenge of a Nationals Championship.

“Being selected is definitely one of my biggest accomplishments,” Tate explained.

“It’s been a big year for me, I’m in my first year refereeing Big V, I’ve just turned 18, but I know I’m still young and have a long way to go. Getting this invitation to ref at the National Championships has proven to me that putting in hard work pays off,” Tate said.

“You might think no-one is watching but you never know where opportunities will pop up!”

Clearly, one of the keys to Tate’s success with the whistle has been his passion for the craft.

“I love what I do. When you love what you do and you put the work in, you go places,” Tate said.

Tate also said he has also had a lot of great support from the TOC (formally VRBA) here at Werribee.

“There’s a lot of Werribee Basketball people within our refereeing department who are behind me, who have been supportive from the very start. I’m proud that we have a pathway for aspiring referees,” Tate said.

“Having mentors around the Werribee program, who have officiated at the highest levels really helps. Jason Kelly was one especially who has helped me and provided an amazing insight into WNBL and SEABL (now NBL1) refereeing.”

And just how far does Tate hope to take his refereeing?

“I definitely see it more as a career path for me. Ultimately, I’d like to get my FIBA license. There’s currently only about 13 Australians at the moment and I’d love to be part of that.”

Basketball history is littered with meteoric rises, but there may never have been a story quite like Puga Deng’s.

Just two short years ago, Puga was playing D-grade junior domestic for Hoppers Crossing. After the completion of her second season in Werribee’s Youth Women Big V squad, she has been offered a full scholarship to play college basketball at ASA College in Miami.

While playing for Hoppers, she was spotted by WBA Player and Coach Development Manager Reece Potter who asked if she’d like to tryout for our Big V Youth Women. The rest, as they say, is history.

As modest as ever, Puga says the whole experience, culminating in a college scholarship, has been a bit of a dream.

“All this craziness happened after Reece asked me to tryout for Youth League. I was worried being so inexperienced playing with girls who had been playing since they were 5 or 6 years old, but I just watched what they were doing and tried to learn from them.”

At just 20, Puga clearly has a wonderful work ethic and focus on learning and developing her game.

“I didn’t think I was good enough and I think people were interested because I was tall. But I’ve put in a lot of extra work, just trying to develop small parts of my game every week,” Puga explained.

“I love training. I always leave happy, it makes me happy to be on court working on my game.”

This appetite for work was spotted at Eagle Stadium by Werribee local and NBL star Kuany Kuany, who helped Puga with some workouts and put her in contact with ASA, not that she thought anything would come of it.

“I couldn’t believe it when they made the offer to me. I thought it was a joke! I know I’ve still got a lot to learn, but it’s going to be a wonderful environment for me to do so,” Puga said.

Puga said she owed a lot to the Werribee program and in particular her Youth League coaches.

“Werribee Basketball has helped me so much.  Throughout my time here I have seen the Werribee Basketball culture grow so much and it is just so inclusive and connected. I felt it best at games where us girls really felt the love from the crowd,” Puga said.

“Mason (Rogers, head coach) is a great coach, Jade (Hodges, assistant coach) has been so supportive and Adrian (Edwards, assistant coach) has been huge for my individual skill development. I really appreciate the time all three have put into helping me get to where I am now.”

And is Puga excited for what’s next?

“I’ve never even been to America – it really is all like a dream!”

Championship Men Head Coach

The Werribee Devils Championship Men head coach is responsible for leading the Big V Championship Program, working with the WBA to achieve successful outcomes both on and off the court.

CLICK HERE TO SEE FULL PD

Applications will close Sunday 1st September 2019

Send your application to jobs@wyndhambasketball.com

Any questions can be directed to WBA President, Paul Jones via paujones.wba@gmail.com

Remuneration available based upon experience & qualifications

It is WBA policy to repost all roles on completion of each contract term, to ensure we have transparency and the best candidate in every role.

Do you feel like you have a lot more potential as a shooter but don’t know how to achieve it?

Do you worry that your shooting will hold you back from achieving the things you want to in the game of basketball?

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Every player that Coach Love has worked with has shot a career high in their time working together. Coach Love has helped players identify flaws in their shot, and given them a practice plan that has helped players improve by as much as 30% in one season.

Another player went from buried on the bench, hardly playin!l be’!luse he wasn’t a strong shooter, to now starting m the NBA, shooting 3 pointers at a high percentage, and making millions of dollars. Come learn from one of the best shooting coaches in the world and unlock the potential of your
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DETAILS

• September 26, 2019
• 9am-12pm (U/12 & U/14)
• 1pm – 4pm (U/16 & U/18)
• $65 per athlete

U/12 & U/14 CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

U/16 & U/18 CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Bonus extras:

• Direct access to NBA Shooting Coach Dave Love.
• The Love of the Game Lanyard.
• Bonus Content provided via email before and after the clinic, including a development course to continue building the skills learned.
• Access to Coach Dave Love’s free newsletter

Werribee Basketball is pleased to call for applications for all junior representative Werribee Devils Teams for the 2019/20 VJBL season. The VJBL has been a key pathway for many of Australia’s best players & coaches. Coaching is one of the most rewarding things an individual can do. Come & join one of Victorian Basketball’s fastest growing and developing basketball associations.

Please see attached position description for the VJBL coaching roles.

CLICK HERE TO APPLY ONLINE

APPLICATIONS CLOSE SATURDAY, AUGUST 31^st 2019

VJBL Coach Selection Process

1. Coaching applications called for via WBA website and social media.
2. Applications close Saturday 31^st August, 2019.
3. Appointed coach selection panel meet. Please note, interviews may be held at the discretion of the selection panel for existing coaches and all new coaches will be interviewed.
4. Coaches appointed to an age group & gender prior to 2019/20 VJBL Representative Tryouts.
5. Coaches appointed to specific teams at the conclusion of the 201/20 VJBL Representative Tryouts.

Please note: For applications to be accepted, they must be completed fully and correctly.

Any questions can be directed to the Player & Coach Development Manager, Reece Potter.

Email: reece.potter@wyndhambasketball.com  OR   Phone: (03) 9742 5440 & press 4

How do you rate the season?

This season started out slowly but finished as a great step forward for the YLW program at Werribee. After a productive pre-season we started off with a tough schedule, however soon found our strides winning 12 of our last 13 games. We maintained a strong core from the previous season and that helped the continuity of coaching. We made a conscious effort to play at a very quick pace and it proved to be successful not only for individual development but for team success. The group made finals which was again an improvement from last year.

What were the positives for the season?

Our  strong focus on culture and development. The goal of the squad was to get 1% better each session as an individual and as a team. And looking at the results and the style of play from individuals and of the team I believe we accomplished this.

Obviously winning 12 games in a row was a massive positive for the season. Also having 2 girls earn college scholarships from this season was a massive positive for them as individuals and I couldn’t be more proud of those players. 

What could have been improved?

We had a very offensive focus this season, as it took a lot of work to implement the style of play we were intent on playing. This meant that we could have been more strict and disciplined defensively. That will be something to build on next season. With only one player aging out, hopefully we can retain the core group of players and then can continue where we left off.

Who have been the standouts on court for your team?

The system we have implemented is quite egalitarian in its approach and it meant that we consistently had multiple contributors over the season. 8 of our players scored over 20 points at least once during the season, and we had 7 different leading scorers for games.

In saying that, Olivia Klaman had a brilliant year, and was the MVP of our team. Liv had some big games which included 32 points against Whittlesea and a 37 point game against Pakenham (including 9 3PM).

Alana Anthony also had a great year for us. She bought energy offensively and defensively and again proved to be one of the hardest covers in our competition.

Are there any YL2W players you could see making the leap into our Champ Women side next season?

This season we saw Ariyel Edwards make the transition to being a 2 way player with the Champ Women’s side and I think there are other players who could potentially look to make that jump. The program took a leap forward as a farm program for our Women’s team and I think we will see a clear pathway continue to develop in the next one to two years.

Q: How would you rate your season overall?

This season we retained three players from last year’s team. League leading scorer Konor Kulas, Mark Berezdecky and TJ Remy. We welcomed eight new players including import David Shepard. Konor and David didn’t arrive until two weeks before the season started so we had a difficult preseason with our two main players not being present for the bulk of our practice games. We then started the season with five games in 3 weeks and two of a league high seven double headers with six of those Sunday teams having the Saturday night off. We then had 20 days off to further upset our rhythm. I thought if we could win 10 games it would be a good achievement. We won 9 and had players miss a total of 29 games with injury and illness. Overall I would give us a C plus for the season. We struggled with fixturing and injuries all year but the second half of the season we played very well and had some huge wins.

Q: What were some of the positives out of the season?

Numerous. It was great to see a disparate group of individuals come together and play for a common goal. We had a solid group on and off the floor and we added Livai Smith 8 games in and then Tomi Ayilara 14 games in and the boys welcomed them with open arms. Youngsters Rhys Hislop and Makur Jongkuch also improved during the season. When we struggled early everyone stuck with it and that was one of the main reasons for our improvement and solid second half of the season. We had 5 guys that were still eligible to play YL and we were the youngest team in the league yet we competed well every week.

As mentioned, the fixture was  a challenge. Would also have been helpful to have Konor Kulas and David Shepard here with the team earlier. It was difficult to prepare only having them here for 4 training sessions before the start of the season. We also needed more consistency from our Australian players. We only had Jacob Formosa averaging double figures at 13ppg and he was fantastic for us for the whole season yet we had 7 guys score at least 17 points on one occasion. We had the ability but not the consistency and leadership that comes with experience and enough work off the court.

Q: How would you rate your season overall?

I think the season went OK.  There were definitely areas for improvement, which we saw throughout the season, however, the group also showed a lot of strong qualities in many games. The team was quite young, so there were ups and downs along the way, but one of our key goals were to work as a group to develop for next season.

Q: What were some of the positives out of the season?

The team were constantly pushing each other to develop and get better, the growth from the start of the season to the end was great to see.  Some games we would have standout players, but most of our games saw the entire group playing well.  The pride the players showed in each other and the team overall gave us a great boost in many of our games.

Our shooting was hot and cold early on, but towards the end of the season, the team started to make better decisions, leading to making more shots at a higher percentage.  Ball movement and willingness to play for each other was also one of our biggest strengths.

When Sarah Elsworthy arrived in Victoria to play the 2019 Big V season, her future as a professional player was far from certain.

Sarah had made a big splash as a rookie for Adelaide Lightning, but didn’t have a playing contract in 2018/19 and stayed with the squad as a train on player.

Fast forward 6 months, Sarah has helped guide our Champ Women’s team to an impressive 11-2 record (with hopes of an exciting finish to the season!) and she will head back to her home state with a freshly signed full-time player contract with Adelaide Lightning in the WNBL.

Sarah explained that after the 2018/19 season, she was determined to find a program to help her take the next step in her basketball career.

“I made the call to play at Werribee and work really hard on my game. I wanted to utilise the opportunity to play under a great coach like Reece Potter and learn as much as I could from him and from the Big V environment,” Sarah said.

When she was looking at playing options for 2019, Sarah confesses Werribee and the Big V was not front of mind.

“I have to admit, I probably came over to Victoria thinking I needed to be in the NBL1 league, but I’m so pleased I ultimately made the call to come to Werribee,” Sarah said.

“There have been so many benefits to playing here and in the Big V that I hadn’t considered. Becoming a leader within the team and driving the standards has helped develop my game in a way I never would have been able to at other levels,” Sarah explained.

“I’m glad it has proven to be a successful pathway.”

Sarah is hopeful that her success can be used as motivation for other players.

“I’d love Werribee junior players to see my journey as proof of just how valuable the Big V pathway can be.”

 “Last year I was a train-on squad member but wasn’t offered a contract – so to fight my way back onto the playing roster with a full playing contract has been pleasing. Now I can’t wait to test myself again at the top level in this country,” Sarah said.

Reflecting on her time so far at Werribee, Sarah said she has really enjoyed the supportive environment from coaches, players and all WBA members.

“I’ve loved this season with Werribee and after such a strong start, I’m pumped to see what we can do in the back half of the season!”

Werribee Basketball in partnership with Coach Liam Flynn is really excited to be bringing NBA assistant coach Matt Hill to Werribee for 2 player clinics and a coaching clinic.

Coach Hill will be running x2 player development sessions broken up by age group.

U12 & U14 Session Details (athletes born 2006 – 2010)
Date: Sunday 21st July, 2019
Time: 12:00pm – 2:00pm
Venue: Eagle Stadium, 35 Ballan Road Werribee (Court 1 & 2)
Cost: $65* per athlete (places are extremely limited)
What to bring: Basketball and drink bottle

U16 & U18 Session Details (athletes born 2002 – 2005)
Date: Sunday 21st July, 2019
Time: 3:00pm – 5:00pm
Venue: Eagle Stadium, 35 Ballan Road Werribee (Court 1 & 2)
Cost: $65* per athlete (places are extremely limited)
What to bring: Basketball and drink bottle

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Please ensure you select the correct age group!

These clinics are for athletes who are serious about their basketball and looking to improve their game. Athletes will be broken up in sessions based on age, experience and skill set.

NBA COACHING CLINIC DETAILS
Date: Sunday, 21st July 2019
Time: 6:00pm – 7:30pm
Venue: Court 8 @ Eagle Stadium (35 Ballan Rd Werribee)
Open to: All Werribee Basketball domestic & rep coaches*
Cost: FREE

WBA COACHES CLICK HERE TO REGISTER