AUS - Basketball looks to secure international success

SYDNEY (National team) - Australian Olympic legends Andrew Gaze, Andrew Vlahov and Rachael Sporn have been appointed by Basketball Australia to help evaluate the success of the Boomers and Opals Olympic programs following their recent campaigns at the Beijing Games, including making recommendations on what is required to secure medals at the London Games in 2012.

Gaze, who is also currently on the Interim Board of Basketball, will join former national teammate Vlahov on a panel to undertake a comprehensive review of the Boomers program, along with Basketball Australia's President John Maddock, CEO Scott Derwin and General Manager of National Teams, Lorraine Landon.

Sporn will join Maddock, Derwin, Landon and Interim Board member and business leader Diane Sias on a panel to review the performance of the silver medal winning Opals.

The committees will provide a series of recommendations for refining the program over the next four years, to ensure the teams' quality for medal contention. A recommendation for the appointment of the next Head Coach for both the Boomers and Opals teams will also be made, with the positions expected to be announced early December.

The trio have a wealth of experience at the international level, with a combined total of 807 international games for Australia between them.

"We were extremely proud of the Opals and Boomers performances during the Games, and the way they represented Australian basketball on the world stage," said triple Olympic medallist Rachael Sporn. "We now need to capitalise on this success to ensure basketball continues to be seen as a successful sport in Australia and that we continue to excel on the international stage."

"Basketball in Australia is currently undergoing a major reform, with the move towards the introduction of a single structure for the sport to ensure its successful future, and we believe our teams' recent performance has contributed strongly to building this new foundation for basketball in Australia," said Sporn.

Key priorities addressed in a recent independent review of the sport included a major restructure of the basketball administration and governance; re-branding and aggressively promoting the sport: developing strong revenue streams from corporate and media partnerships; increasing the connection between community and elite competitions and national teams; and the significant expansion and investment in the national basketball program.

"We need to bridge the gap between the grassroots and our world-class national teams, and provide stronger links between the young players of the future, our national teams and our performance on an international stage," said Andrew Vlahov, former National Basketball League championship winner and current Managing Director of the Perth Wildcats.

"The national pathways program continues to produce outstanding results internationally, and our continued success at an Olympic level highlights our status as a powerful basketball nation that continues to develop some of the world's best players, including Andrew Bogut, Lauren Jackson, Penny Taylor, and David Andersen.

"However, there is no doubt there's significant work needed to ensure this international success filters down to a grassroots level if we are to ensure a successful future for the sport in this country," said Vlahov. "This is not happening at the moment."

Basketball Australia Chief Executive Scott Derwin said a new structure as outlined in the recently released Stage Two report into basketball was much needed in Australia to strengthen the focus on building the sport across all levels.

"We need to ensure the pathways program provides a greater capacity to invest in talent identification and development, while offering higher profile and better paying careers to secure basketball's position as an activity or career of choice for Australia's youth," said Derwin.

"Basketball needs a governing body for basketball that is independent and capable of making decisions in the best interest of the sport," stressed Derwin. "This will ensure a strengthened national approach to the development of the game, a stronger NBL and WNBL competition, and more regular Boomers and Opals games played in Australia.

"These initiatives will increase the exposure of the game and in turn generate significant media and sponsorship revenues lacking at the moment."

"The development of a revised governance and management structure and a sustainable business plan for basketball, are key areas that need to be addressed if the sport is to move forward successfully."

Basketball Australia