Pacers primed

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WHITTLESEA Pacers basketballers are raring to go after a year off according to association Big V coordinator Theresa Waara.

Waara said Whittlesea would field teams in women’s championship division, men’s division two and youth league men’s division two in 2021.

Former National Basketball League legend Damon Lowery will return to coach the championship women, but Waara said the team would need to adjust to the loss of its imports.

“There are no imports – our American imports were sent home because of COVID,” she said.

“It’s going to make a big difference in the competition not having imports. It just means you need to search for talent within Australia.”

Waara said she had confidence Lowery would get the best out of the young team.

“He is very talented with utilising the players he has. He had a very young team in 2019 and he’s got a very strong nucleus that can be developed, and it will be interesting to see how they go without an imported player,” she said.

“They’re going to come up against some of Australia’s best players, but the only way for them to learn and improve is to play against the best.”

Waara said the division two men and youth league men were also expected to compete strongly. The division two men will be coached by Michael Goulimis, while Sam Halpin will helm the youth league side.

“Trying to get back on the floor with the gap because of COVID has been challenging, but the coaches have done a great job of pulling everything together,” Waara said.

“Most championship men’s and women’s games will be livestreamed on the Big V website, so it will allow people to follow along online.

“We don’t know what the future is, but we’re looking forward to it.”