Congratulations to all our players, coaches and spectators involved this year. It was fabulous to all come together and celebrate as a club at our windup. This is a meaningful culmination of the season. It is important to acknowledge that we are a ‘school club’, not just a large number of separate teams.

We continued to be one of the largest clubs within the Mandurah Basketball Association, growing from 59 – 65 teams from Pre-Primary through to Year 12, across both campuses. Playing across five days and four venues, basketball in Mandurah is a big part of local sport, and, it is very significant that we have such a large representation of FIAS players within the community.

This season we started training in our fabulous Kwobadiny Sports Centre. It’s been great to use the courts and it’s been very pleasing to see the players respect the venue so well. We purchased new training basketballs, coaches’ backpacks and we certainly look very professional down at the courts. We offered pre-season programs over winter. Shootzone ran before-school sessions for our primary students and Mrs Bree Mullenax, FIAS Teacher and Mandurah Magic Player, ran skills sessions for our secondary players. We are very fortunate to have her experience and skill as part of FIAS Basketball.

We hosted two coaching accreditation courses run by Basketball WA – they were well supported, and the intention is that coach development directly links to our player development! We are very lucky to have such committed and dedicated coaches who took the time to attend and support these and it’s certainly something we will continue to build on. Thank you also, to our dedicated team managers who do all behind-the-scenes work, it is very much appreciated.

Well done to our players who made Mandurah Basketball development teams and state teams. It is great to see players continue to play for Frederick Irwin, with their friends, represent their school, and still have the development opportunities MBA and BWA offer. A big congratulations to these players. And a special mention to Hannah Chatfield (Year 12) who has coached one of our younger teams, and has again been signed with the NBL1 Mandurah Magic team this year – it will be great to see her out on the court, alongside Mrs Mullenax.

A very big thank you to the coaches of our FIAS teams. Junior sports cannot run without these people giving up their hours every week and making the commitment because they love basketball and giving our young people the opportunity to play and develop. It was pleasing to see new and returning coaches and the attitude and spirit they are coaching with, is what is building the great sporting culture we have here at FIAS. It is so good to see FIAS teams training as a squad, working together, and playing in derbies with that approach that everyone out there is representing FIAS to their absolute best.

This year we had many student coaches and assistant coaches. It is great to see them develop their skills as a coach and give back to their sport and the younger players. Thanks to Joshua Crane, Will Sattler, Trinity Hartland, Kaiden Allan, Hannah Chatfield, James McGivern, Blake Burtenshaw, Ryland Goodwin, Abbey Sartori, Brayden Brinkley, Ella Roser, Ethan Grimshaw, Luke Riegert, Dyani Ma, Lucy Pedder Newman and Jessie Meares.

All of our coaches are very important and special, but it’s been particularly great to have some of our FIAS Alumni ex-students be involved as coaches this year. This is a really special part of staying connected to the school and we’ve loved their commitment. Thanks to Sam Harder, Sharni Kenward, Mia Crane and Mark Riegert.

A huge congratulations to all our FIAS teams that made the finals. We had 12 teams enter the semi-finals; resulting in seven teams playing in Grand Finals. FIAS MAGIC, RAYS, FLAMES, FALCONS, SWIFT SHOOTERS, DREAM TEAM, FROGS, BALLSTARS, AND MERCURIES. Well done to FIAS Flames, Ballstars and the Dream Team for winning their Grand Finals. It was so pleasing to see the level of sportsmanship and pride all our Grand Finalists demonstrated out on the court in these games.

I look forward to the next season– where FIAS will continue to build as a club. It is exciting to see us not only build our team numbers in the local association but also build the positive sporting culture of the school. Thank you to everyone who has been involved with this season.

Claire Booker

FIAS Sports Coordinator