State government announces funding boost for Geraldton basketball as juniors tip off for season

Geraldton’s smallest players took to the court for the first time this season at the weekend with some welcome news, after Premier Mark McGowan announced the State Government would nearly double its funding commitment to build a bigger basketball stadium.

Mr McGowan was in Geraldton on Friday to announce the expansion project had begun, and said the Government would provide $3.5 million rather than the $2m initially promised. “The stadium will get a significant upgrade as a result of this funding injection, which will give the sport of basketball more capacity to grow in Geraldton,” the Premier said.

Geraldton Amateur Basketball Association president Peter Brown welcomed the extra funding and said the association had awarded the tender to Geraldton Building Services and Cabinets and he expected work to start soon.

“Once we went out to tender the building industry, the prices have increased a lot lately, so we needed a bit more support from the State Government and they were able to help us out quite generously,” Brown said.

“They’re (GBSC) quite keen to get into it straight away.”

He said the first weekend of junior basketball had gone well, with many teams on the court — 78 of them in the under-eights to under-12s.

Pumas Blue’s Pepper Hooper and Stateside Gold’s Shondelle Westberg played well in their girls’ under-10s match.

In other results, Chapman Valley Gold beat Hawks 41-16 in the girls’ under-18 division one on Friday, while Olympians beat Stateside 41-14.

Dongara beat Olympians 39-27 on Friday in the boys’ under-18 division one, and Chapman Valley beat Stateside 47-28.