THE Wallan Basketball Club hosted the Australian Deaflympics basket ball teams on Saturday night at the Panthers’ Jungle in front of a large crowd.
Generously, the club donated their door takings which amounted to over $250 towards the Australian teams to compete next month at the 2025 Summer Deaflympics in Tokyo when the teams represent Australia and inspire the next generation of deaf and hard of hearing athletes.
The women’s Coach Deb Coulson said the expenses add up.
“We do not get any funding,” she said.
“It is $110,000 for the team, players and coaches and we have to buy our own uniform.”
Ms Coulson also said visual clues are the key to communicating…players can certainly feel the vibrations on the court and thanks to their Auslan Interpreter the team could put a name to the face of their opponents.
“Most of our players are living in the hearing world. Our younger generation players have never taken off their devises, so it’s a foreign experience to take them out,” she said.
“Even when they are on the bench they can be disqualified for gaining access to sound.”
The scrimmage matches between the newly selected Wallan Panthers Country Basketball League (CBL) team and the Australian Geckos saw the Geckos finish in front.
Wallan’s team featured the return of Carley Cranston, who is back from a serious anterior cruciate ligament knee injury incurred two years ago.
The men’s scrimmage against the Goannas finished with the Panthers in front and Wallan’s committee member Scott Baillie said their CBL fixture begins in October.
“We are a family club and this is the first time the club has hosted an all Australian game,” he said.
The Review would like to wish the Geckos and the Goannas and their support crews all the best when they showcase the strength of deaf basketball on the international stage.
