Late last month, Gippsland United were accepted by Basketball Victoria to enter its first ever Big V Youth league team.
After a intensive tryout phase, new Head Coach Jayden McMillin was able to select a squad of 14 active players, 2 Youth Development players and 3 training players.
With the team finalised and preparations underway its an exciting time for GU, and hopefully a move that helps the club introduce a Youth League Women’s side in 2025.
Dont miss a minute of Big V action with a Gippsland United membership with 2024 Gippsland United Memberships on sale now!
Traralgon Amateur Basketball Association and Gippsland United would like to welcome new Interim General Manager of Basketball Operations Grant Little.
Grant brings a wealth of basketball knowledge to the role which will oversee both TABA and GU operations in helping build future sustainability.
With key focus of the role is to strengthen engagement with other local associations and Grant steps into the interim role as a respected member of the Gippsland basketball community and will allow his relationships to take association engagement to the next level.
We look forward to Grant joining us as we evolve the new Gippsland United operating framework moving forward.
As the excitement of another successful season for Gippsland United’s representative teams draws to a close, work off the court has been continuing to ensure that this success is built on and the program continues to be sustainable well into the future.
Stand-alone ‘Elite Pathways’ can struggle at times to maintain operations and finances, so following an in-depth review of the player pathway in Gippsland (in 2021), a Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) was developed between the Combined Gippsland Basketball Association (CGBA) and Traralgon Amateur Basketball Association (TABA). The CGBA was competing as Latrobe Energy, and had recently withdrawn from the senior ‘Big V’ State League, leaving Gippsland as the only region in Victoria that did not have an elite senior team pathway.
Basketball Victoria, in conjunction with the Latrobe Valley Authority, developed a project in 2020 to thoroughly review basketball pathways in Gippsland and establish the JVA. This review was undertaken by GippSport and included exhaustive consultation and stakeholder engagement. Several recommendations were developed, and an implementation plan was put in place to return a senior pathway to Gippsland.
The JVA saw the creation of ‘Gippsland United’, which now operates junior teams in the Victorian Junior Basketball League (VJBL) and a Senior Men’s and Women’s team in ‘Big V’. The Joint Venture had an immediate impact on the court, with a Men’s Division 2 Championship in 2022 and a promotion to Division 1 for 2023, and the Women won the Division 2 Championship this year and a promotion to Big V Division 1 for 2024.
As the program grows with on court success, the same is needed off the court to ensure sustainability, future growth, and the ability to take advantage of opportunities and partnerships with local Gippsland associations.
When developing the JVA, future options and opportunities were planned for and considered. Therefore, to ensure the program remains strong, and has the capacity to develop, it has been agreed that the governance and the operations of Gippsland United will be transferred to the Traralgon Amateur Basketball Association (TABA). This will see TABA lead and solely operate the junior and senior representative teams’ pathway into Basketball Victoria’s State League competitions.
Basketball Victoria’s General Manager, Member and Community Services – David Huxtable, is appreciative of the hard work done so far and is optimistic for greater pathway success in the Gippsland region.
“It is important to recognise all who have been involved in developing Gippsland United to where it is, and the opportunities provided for local basketballers to have a secure, elite pathway.”
“Through this project, it was clear that people wanted a visible, local pathway to be available, so we need to make sure that this can be delivered on now and into the future. TABA has a strong history of delivering outcomes, it is great to see them ensure Gippsland United offers athletes, coaches, officials, volunteers and administrators from anywhere in Gippsland the opportunity to go further.”
Huxtable continued to praise the early success of the pathways, acknowledged the full community effort to raise the bar, but knows there needs to be future collaboration to cement the strength of the program.
“We thank the many people involved in delivering the program so far, from coaches to Committees/Boards, sponsors and partners, parents, family, friends, administrators, volunteers and the community in general.
The association-based model of delivering an elite pathway has continuously been demonstrated as the most successful way to making those pathways sustainable, no matter what the sport. We encourage all associations in Gippsland to appreciate the history, look to the future and be involved as best they can.”
Planning for 2024 has already commenced.
On the back of extremely strong 2023 Big V campaigns, Gippsland United have recommitted to both Scott McKenzie and Brad Rooff for the 2024 Big V seasons.
McKenzie, who led United to the 2022 Division 2 Mens Championship, took the club to the Division 1 finals and after finishing 3rd on the ladder bowed out to a strong Pakenham side.
With experience at CBL, VJBL, BVCC and Big V Championship level, Scott adds a wealth of knowledge to Gippsland United and the club is extremely excited to see what 2024 looks like with him at the healm.
Brad came to United at the start of 2023 and made an immediate impact on the group, leading them to a Division 2 Championship title, only losing one game in the Home and Away season, and one game in the Semi Final best of 3 series.
Having coached at McKinnon and Casey in various roles, Brad shone brightly in season 1 with GU winning the Division 2 Women’s Coach of the Year Award.
Like Scott, the club is extremely excited to see what 2024 hold for Brad and the United Women.
After a massive 2023 Big V season, the year was capped off with the 2023 Big V awards at South Warf.
It was a spectacular event and the perfect way to end the Big V season.
Like they had done all year on the court, our Championship winning Womens team were prevalent in the awards walking away with 3 winners.
Lauren Tuplin was named Youth Player of the Year for the Division 2 Womens.
Makenzie Miller was named in the Div 2 Womens All Star Five.
Brad Roofe was named the Division 2 Womens Coach of the Year.
Congratulations to all of our Big V players that were nominated for an award and to everyone for their support throughout our extremely successful Mens and Womens campaigns.
On Saturday night, a massive crowd came down to the Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium to watch the BigV Division 2 Women’s Grand Final.
Gippsland United hosted Wallan Panthers in a clash of the best two teams in the competition. Finishing first and second on the ladder, both with MVP candidates leading their teams it was always going to be a match for the ages.
The depth of Gippsland United vs the 1/2 punch of Wallan superstar Kylah Collins and Olivia Dalmau.
The first quarter was a real tussle, with Wallan finishing the better to the tune of 3 points. Foul trouble early to youngsters Krystal Arnason and Emily Scholtes creating issues for Brad Rooff rotations.
The foul count for the game was 50! With Joey Watson, Krystal Arnason and Wallan’s Kylah Collins all fouling out of the game. The calls were interesting with some very physical contact being left while some tiggy touchwood calls were called. The calls were going both ways and the teams had to adjust to the way the referees were calling the game.
By the end of the second quarter, United had taken the lead by four points. It was on the defensive end that United took control of the game holding Wallan to only 14 points in the second term.
The third quarter, United started on a 15-5 run to get out to a 14 point lead. Again it was the defensive end and fast transition that did the damage. Makenzie Miller and Lauren Tuplin leading the charge.
Kylah Collins fouled off early in the final quarter and with a 22 point lead it felt like the game was won. However, Wallan being the amazing team that they are started an inspired comeback. The noise was deafening with the crowd completely enthralled by the contest. The junior athletes from Leongatha Lighting absolutely screaming the house down. The comeback was stifled with some key buckets to Makenzie Miller, Lauren Tuplin and Em Scholtes in the final 3 minutes. The United women winning the title by 17 points.
Some key statistics from the game -leading to victory:
Rebounds: 60 – 49
Assists: 27-11
Second Chance Points: 13-11 – significant win as Kylah Collins usually dominates the offensive glass. She was restricted to only 3 offensive rebounds.
Makenzie Miller was voted MVP of the Grand Final in a statement game from the co-captain.
Key Performances:
Makenzie Miller: 20p, 16r, 9a, 1s
Lauren Tuplin: 25p, 10r, 8a
Joey Watson: 11p, 7r, 5a
Our Gippsland United Women take on Wallan Panthers this Saturday Night at Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium.
7pm Tip Off.
It has been an outstanding season for the Women, managing to finish the regular season 18-1, with the single loss an away game at Wallan.
Head to Head – Gippsland United lead 2:1
Key Match-Up – Makenzie Miller vs Kylah Collins
Come down and support the team this weekend!
Congratulations to our very own Gippsland United U18 girls player Tayli Dimarco who has been selected in the Sapphires squad.
The squad are undertaking seven on court sessions over 3 days & 1/2 days for a selection camp at the COE for her chance of playing in the Sapphires u16 Fiba Asia Cup in Jordan this coming July.
This is a tremendous achievement for Tayli and we wish her the very best!
Applications NOW OPEN!!
Gippsland United Basketball are looking for a Junior Director of coaching and development. If you think that this is for you head here: link
Copyright 2024 Gippsland United
