Basketball –
Children aged between 18 months and five can now hit the courts thanks to Central Coast Basketball’s Minis Program.
The program, to be run at the Breakers Indoor Stadium at Terrigal, will teach children the basic skills of basketball amongst a range of other interactive activities.
Each 45-minute session will differ week to week but will tend to include a general warm-up, run and shoot drill, colour and number recognition games, passing practice, bouncing practice, obstacle course and parachute fun.
Venue Operations Manager, Amanda Marjanovic, said the program, launched in July 2019, hopes to teach young children transferrable sports skills in addition to basketball skills.
“There are some really fun-based activities, things like parachutes and balloon play, but also there is some basketball-specific stuff like shooting, passing, and dribbling,” Marjanovic said.
“They break it up in some skill-based activities, things like hand and eye coordination and colour matching.
“This is where there is a whole bunch of coloured bean bags laid out, the idea being that they have to collect the bean bags and place them on the colour mat.
“It is not always about basketball skills; it is broader than just sport.
“Parents need to attend the session, and they can participate if they want, but if the kids are more than happy not to have them involved, that is possible.”
Sessions will be held at 10 am every Monday and Friday, starting February 1.
Aussie Hoops (NSW Basketball endorsed) and Rising Rebels (a similar program created by Central Coast’s Basketball) are two other programs for children older than five who compete in a domestic competition or are new to basketball.
“These sessions are for kids who are learning to play basketball or may already have some skills but are just wanting to improve their skills to get them up to the representative level,” Marjanovic said.
Aussie Hoops sessions are for 5 to 9-year-olds and will be held on Fridays between 4 pm and 5 pm.
These will run from February 5-March 26 at the Central Coast Adventist School.
Rising Rebels sessions are for 5 to 17-year-olds and will be held on Saturday mornings from 8 am.
These will run from February 6-March 27 at the Breakers Indoor Sports Stadium and Lakehaven Recreation Centre.
Jacinta Counihan