Play ball! Yarrabilba’s first basketball association unites community
Ready to play ball?! An exciting first for our community, the Yarrabilba Basketball Association have created their first junior girls and women’s only competitions, as interest grows for our residents to take to the court in 2022.
Yarrabilba resident and Director of the Yarrabilba Basketball Association, Luke Douglas, has seen the sport jump leaps and bounds over the past few years, providing an outlet for teenagers, inspiring young and old to get active and teaching little ones finer motor skills.
Playing the sport for 30 years, Luke saw a need for a local basketball association when moving to our community from Sydney in 2017.
“At the time I was studying a Masters in Business and was writing a thesis on new ventures and creations. I decided to look at creating a business model on what it would take to start a basketball association and whether it was viable,” he said.
“I started a community basketball association in Jimboomba in 2018, and in 2019 we were officially named an association and then in 2020, became part of Basketball Queensland. The same year we moved to the Yarrabilba High School.
“Yarrabilba Basketball continues to grow and we have branched out to include a school-based basketball academy, a school excellence program, school holiday master classes, representative basketball teams and now we are introducing a female only division.”
Left to right: Luke (Director and GM), Mangope (Development Coach & Referee), Brendan (Coach), Brenda (Referee Coordinator & Coach)
Luke said his vision for the basketball association was to grow the game, become a leader in the sport, continue development, promote inclusivity, and encourage more women into the sport.
“We have a league for the little ones from four years old through to players in their 50s. It’s a game for all,” he said.
“Our mission is to provide career pathways and opportunities for our players and to create a greater involvement in sport for women and marginalised members of our community.
“We have grown from 17 team members to now over 270. There’s a lot of exciting things to come in 2022, so keep up to date on our Facebook page.”
The new junior season kicked off on 24 January, followed by the men’s and women’s competition on 25 January. To get involved or learn more about the association visit: https://yba.org.au
