In 1985 the Power House Basketball Club was asked to run a basketball clinic in Nunawading for the local disability service providers. About fifteen players were expected - one hundred and fifty turned up wanting to learn to play basketball!! It is an understatement to say we had found a need for sporting activities for people with intellectual disabilities!
We soon discovered that there were no organised sporting activities being made available to this part of our community in Melbourne.
The Victorian Championship Competition varies significantly from mainstream basketball in its importance to the players. In some cases it is not only the highlight of the week but their only social activity. It is a community all by itself.
It is the place where players go and feel no different than anyone else - "just another sportsperson". It is, in the main, the place in life where people of all ages can feel like they are a winner and where others can see them achieve and be recognised as being good at something. Intellectually Disabled (ID) people rarely, if ever, get a chance to experience what would be, to us, a normal, expected part of life.
But it is more than a very good basketball program. More than half our players were introduced to the competition via a special schools team. Why does a school involve itself in a Friday evening activity using up its precious resources? The motivation it provides for players to improve in areas outside of playing basketball is amazing! A player who has had difficulty with figures soon improves because of the method of scoring. The games are played at various times so they learn to read the time. Someone who has a fear or difficulty with travel on public transport soon learns to overcome this hurdle. It improves social skills and provides them with a code of acceptable behaviour. It provides club members with friendships as well as their own community. It provides them with a group of their own peers. It gives them purpose.
The main reason that we have been so successful is because we have a group of dedicated volunteers. They work hard at making this a mirror image of normal basketball. They treat the players as players and make little concession to their disabilities. We have on many occasions nominated the club or one of our volunteers for various community awards that arise. At three separate Australian Championships our members have received national awards from Basketball Australia for their ongoing involvement with ID basketball. Vern Tessier is a Sport and Recreation Volunteer award winner and the Department of Human Services - Celebration of Ability award winner for Volunteerism. Sally Duncan has won Basketball Australia's national volunteer award twice for her efforts with ID basketball.
Over the years we have grown this competition in many ways. Included in some of those milestones are:
However, it is the less-noticed achievements that we are most proud of. Being there to facilitate and witness a player's joy at scoring their first goal in front of teary-eyed family members. Watching the confidence of individual players increase, step by small step, over many years. Having a player gather enough courage and self esteem such that they feel confident enough to say their first words to you after having known them for over 5 years! Seeing a player's amazement when they realise that they really can catch the ball unassisted. Being there to witness the pride a player has when they get picked into the Victorian team. These are by far our most important achievements.