Geelong United Basketball Update

Communication from Mark Neeld, Geelong United Basketball CEO - 1 May 2020

Dear Geelong United Basketball Community,

I hope that you are all well and looking after yourselves and your family as we continue to work our way through these extremely challenging times. We have continued to be in daily communication with Basketball Victoria and are in a position to provide the following update. In discussions with Basketball Victoria and other key stakeholders we have commenced work on what basketball could look like when it re-commences. The overarching philosophy is that we aim to return in a safe manner for all participants as promptly as we can, once we are granted permission to do so. Work is being done with the plan that Geelong United Basketball Domestic Competitions and our Representative Pathway can both start up again. At this stage it is far too early to be identifying any dates, as this would be pure speculation. Any re-commencement of activities will certainly require everyone to work together in a flexible and understanding manner, as our competitions and programs will look vastly different to the way they were when play was stopped as a result of COVID-19. In order to canvass our Basketball Community to gather as many ideas as possible we have established, in consultation with our member clubs, three Working Groups. These groups will be looking at; return to play options, philosophies and objectives of our competitions and programs as well strategies to put into place to achieve these objectives. I would like to thank the following people for the time and effort they are putting into these working groups.

Simon Jovic Sam Buckby Craig Herbert Ashley Adams Scott Nash Sebastian Loader Steph Grayson Jason Aherne Frank Morrissy Owen McNicol Luke Beard Tim O’Leary Jason Aherne Chris Lytas Amanda Ruiz Meagan McCartney Grant Langmaid Alex Duck Shaun Ryan Salli Bruce Ainslie Howard Chantal Nelson Di Forsyth Lukas Bentley Dan Cooper Matthew Paton Matthew Paton Joseph Pilon

We will continue to provide updates as we all work together to enable the continuity of basketball activities for our region during this significantly difficult period. Kind Regards, Mark Neeld Geelong United Basketball CEO