GOLD COAST (Australia) - Australian Indigenous Basketball (AIB), Basketball Queensland (BQ), PCYC Indigenous Programs, and FIBA collaborated on a week-long partnership to celebrate the National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) Week with community visits to Doomadgee and Mornington Island in Queensland, Australia.

The contingent included FIBA in Oceania Development Manager, Annie La Fleur, BQ Indigenous Programs Manager – North & AIB Board Member Joel Khalu, and Police & Community Youth Clubs (PCYC) Indigenous Programs Regional Development Coordinator, Sean Brennan.

"Oftentimes remote Indigenous communities can be starved for organized sporting opportunities so one of the objectives is to come in and deliver a sport for good program particularly helping to promote community pride," shared Khalu.

The activities organized during the week included several basketball clinics and 3x3 tournaments that incorporated Basketball For Good values focusing on mental health.

"It was important for us to come in and do something different because we wanted to make an impact beyond just the sport. I think mental health is an important topic to discuss because in these communities one of the main issues is youth suicides," shared La Fleur, who also hails from an indigenous community in Papua New Guinea.

Khalu who has been involved with AIB since its 2014 inception personally invited La Fleur to the trip to serve as a positive female role-model to the Aboriginal communities located in the Gulf of North-West Queensland.

"I worked with Annie closely when I was with the Basketball Federation of Papua New Guinea and with her status as an Australian basketball legend and FIBA's commitment to empowering women we are hoping she can help motivate a lot of the girls to participate when they normally sit out," said Khalu.

"Another positive flow-on effect of this is health promotion, using basketball as a vehicle to create opportunities for young people to be active and encouraging them to lead healthy lifestyles," he added.

Brennan, who's had multiple visits to the communities believes that the program yields positive outcomes to the communities.

"We are hoping to see them grow once allowed to excel in something and introducing a wide variety of activities to the community is a good start," he shared.

"It's important to inspire the community to lead a better and more fulfilling life," he added.

The basketball clinics held at Doomadgee State School welcomed 98 participants with 53 girls and 45 boys attending while the 3x3 tournaments saw 50 players with 42 boys and eight girls joining.

Meanwhile, in the Mornington Island 3x3 competition - the tournament featured three mixed divisions including U13, U18 and Open with 50 participating players.

"We had a lot of fun running the clinics and the tournaments after witnessing the joy and excitement the participants have shown throughout the week," shared La Fleur.

"The communities we visited are very welcoming and we hope they continue to hone their skills and make basketball as part of their lifestyle moving forward," she added.

NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia to celebrate the history, culture, and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, it is usually celebrated annually in July but was postponed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It was a great experience to be able to teach and learn at the same time. We were able to participate in some NAIDOC activities that included a parade and festival to celebrate their culture and heritage," ended La Fleur.

Basketball For Good is supported by FIBA's International Basketball Foundation.

FIBA