I hope everyone is well and keeping warm.

When we return to games in a few weeks Southwest will have a Bio safety office at all games and I thought it might be a good idea for us to have something at our training. There are processes & procedures in place in regards to a Biosafety Officer & I am not sure how far we will go but we have taken the first step in asking our coaches to under take the COVID – 19 Safety At Work course & our committee members will have a certificate in this as well.

Currently there is an issue with the yearly renewal for Southwest so there is no need to renew your annual fee with them for the time being if you get a reminder. I would presume it will be all sorted by the time our games start as our insurance cover is in those fees. Basketball Qld & Southwest are also looking at the time we have not been able to play with a credit or more time & I will keep you all informed of those things as I get more information.

We are also looking at running a first aid course for our Coaches – this course will be all about injuries that may occur during sport. Doing this course won’t make all our coaches experts but it will give them an understanding of what steps should occur for the betterment of our players and of course you as parents will have confidence your child is being looked after.

This coming Wednesday we will be closing off our numbers for the training camps that we are having over the holidays, this then gives us time to arrange coaches, additional courts if needed, training equipment etc.

You will often hear me say how fantastic our sponsors, coaches & helpers are but this week I would like to say a huge thank you to Runcorn State High School.

At Rockets we have a simple approach for our kids:

1. Be kept safe

2. Have fun

3. Get better at what you do

And the school I believe is aligned with our approach. The school has some wonderful excellence programs in academic, touch football and Music but we get the most benefit from their Basketball excellence program.

A special thanks goes to a couple of the coaches from the school, our U8 coach Tony Hardman who with his wife Funaki are unbelievable & the kids love them and our U14 coach Ben Brown who this year was selected as the Qld schoolboys 18 years assistant coach, he is the Metropolitan West Regional coach 18 year boys and of course the Runcorn High Junior boys coach.

The school not only supplies us with a great venue and coaches but because of their excellence program in Basketball we have some very talented players in both the girls and boys older age groups.

If you are interested in what the school offers please click on the link below

https://runcornshs.eq.edu.au/curriculum/excellence-programs.I believe the school also offers scholarships to prospective students.

Until next week from the courts

Mark Smith

President

Runcorn Rockets Basketball