A message from the Club President

Watching the finals games this post season has certainly been a case of agony and ecstasy with so many games going down to the wire and being determined by under 3 points. Tears or smiles, it’s been a great performance by all our teams, and we certainly have plenty to be proud about.

The results for Summer Season 2024-25 are 76 teams played in the normal season of which a massive 51 went onto post season. 22 won their semi-finals and the Club now has 12 Premierships to celebrate which is our best result for several seasons.

Thanks to all our Coaches and Team Managers for getting us through this season but thanks also to all the parents who did the driving, scoring and all the other help outs along the way. But most of all, I want to thank our athletes for being brave enough to play each week and represent our magnificent Club so well. Congratulations to every player who put foot on the boards in the Red, White and Black this season and wrote their own line in the history of the Club.

Wattle Park Saints is actually one of the oldest Clubs in the Association and this longevity is in part due to the fact that we value the contribution of every player. Our aim is to wherever possible provide a playing opportunity for every player who wants to play this beautiful game. We do not favour the gifted or talented because that is the role of representative basketball. There are many very good representative teams in our district and for those wanting to take that road I can recommend any of them. What we value is the individual and the basketball champion within whatever that might look like and we hope every one of our players will stay with us for many seasons. This Club is a great place to join friends or make new friends and take your own playing journey. We want our players to make as many meaningful connections as possible not over a season, or a year but over a long career at the Club. I hope all our families will support the Club on this as we seek to support you. A good chance to put this into action is to make a big effort to get along to our Presentation Day so we close out the season in style and really recognize the great efforts of our athletes and all those who work hard to make a season possible.

We have a very rare celebration this season, a Club Champion, Fleur Kelly has reached the playing milestone of 500 games. A truly magnificent effort and an example of a sensational commitment to the Club. Thanks Fleur. I am looking forward to seeing everyone there to celebrate and pay tribute to all our achievements. Details of the event are below - Sunday 27 April , Forest Hill Secondary College.

An area that still seems to cause difficulties for a number of teams is the use of fill-ins and as many found, is even stricter during finals. We had teams forfeit winning games and even miss finals due to non-compliance. It is important that everyone understands how to use fill-ins to top up teams who are short due to illness or injury. The requirements are set out on our website, and it would be a great idea to check them out and direct any questions to your AGC.

Even though the final whistle for Summer Season has hardly been blown, the preparations for Winter Season 2025 are well under way with teams due to be posted in the next week or so. Thank you for the magnificent efforts of our AGCs who do such a wonderful job of allocating around 500 athletes into teams. It looks like we will be putting around 67 teams out on the boards next season. New to the AGC team are Elyssia Clark and Paul Kneebone.
Thanks for your help, guys.

Your 2025 Winter Season AGCs are:

Sat Girls U8-15: Felipe Marin
Sat Boys U8-15: Elyssia Clark
Sat U17-19 (Boys and Girls): Paul Kneebone
Fri Boys: Shayne La Combre
Mon Girls: Glen Hewer

Welcome to our new Club Registrar Scott Monkhouse who is available to assist you with any registration queries. We say farewell to Sally Marks who has served as Club Registrar for the last few years and thank her for all the great efforts in registering 1000s of players in that time.

A big welcome to Megan McMahon who is the main reason you are reading this. Megan is taking over from Elyssia Clark on Club Comms which is fantastic, and Elyssia is moving to the hands-on team role of AGC (Sat Boys 8-15). Good luck and thanks to you both.

Finally, you may have seen Wattle Park Saints players showing their stuff on the front page of the Sunday Age. This was not part of a big budget recruitment drive being run by the Club but rather a reminder that the Nunawading Basketball Centre is well overdue for re-development. We are hopeful that this election will see financial support made available to commence the stadium development. How do you help? For more information go to:
https://www.nunawadingbasketball.com.au/stadium-
redevelopment/#:~:text=Project%20Scope%20%26%20Vision,and%20sustainability%20within%20the%20facility.

I am looking forward to seeing all our Saints family at Presentation.

Shayne La Combre
Club President

Go Saints - Brave, True, One

In this edition 

Well done on Summer 2024/2025! 

Summer 2024/2025 Presentation Day - call out for volunteers

Meet our Coach Award Winner: Cat Jones

School holiday Basketball Camps

Junior coaches wanted

Thank you to our Sponsors

Uniform update

Dates to remember

Well done on Summer 2024/2025! 

What an epic season! Congratulations to all teams, including players, coaches, team managers, parents and supporters on a fantastic Summer Season. We are so proud of each and every one of our players for their incredible efforts this season. 22 teams made it through to the Grand Finals - what an amazing achievement!

It has been wonderful to hear how the Saints travelled in the finals. The stories of team work and grit and determination shown by our teams are truly inspiring. It is especially pleasing to hear about the sporting behaviour demonstrated by our players, no matter the situation or their opponents, they did the Club and the sport proud. Incredible work teams, Go Saints!

There are loads of images from the finals shared on the Club's social media, do check them out! A selection is below, including Saturday Girls U9 and Friday Boys U13.2. Great effort Saints!

Summer 24/25 season Presentation Day

We’re locked and loaded for another great presentation day at Forest Hill Secondary College on Sunday 27 April, 2pm – 4pm. We would love to see you all there to celebrate a fabulous Summer Season. Free to attend but please let us know you’re coming for catering purposes!

Pop it in the diary and RSVP here https://www.trybooking.com/CZLME

Many hands make light work! Please give us a hand by volunteering on the day: volunteersignup.org/BERA9

Profile of our Coaches Award Winner - Cat Jones

On a regular basis we profile different people around the club. This month we caught up with Cat Jones, winner of our Perpetual Coaches Award trophy. Here’s what Cat shared …

I started coaching 12 years ago, when my eldest son was in the under 8s. I've coached every year since then, juggling one son's team or the other and also coaching cricket for 5 years. I took up coaching because I was often the only parent that had played basketball. However, previous playing is not essential. It's just as important to be organised, able to sub players on and off to give equal court time, and relax enough to let the kids have fun.

What's great about coaching? It's more fun than being the Team Manager - that's a really hard job! Training is always harder than managing matches. But elaborate drills and NBA plays are not necessary, and often create stress for the coach and the kids. It's fine for a training session to be exactly the same activities every week - take the pressure off yourself, have a list of drills for the first half hour and then play mock games for the second half hour. In my experience, players learn more when there is a simple goal for training matches - eg: Everyone on your team has to score a goal. Or - no dribbling. Or - all scoring from inside the key. etc. 

The teams I've found the most rewarding have been mid teens - players on the cusp of self- management, who shine with lots of positive feedback. It's such a privilege to see these players change and mature over a season, as they work together. 

Memorable moments have been coaching a few teams to premierships - that's always fabulous. But I love the turnarounds the most. When a team goes from bottom half of the ladder to top 4. Or persisting within a match, refusing to give up. I remember an under 12 team that was 10-nil down at half time. We gave each other a pep talk, they played their hearts out, and turned it around to win 18-16. The joy, pride and thrill of those children was immense. I'm having a year off now (although I do step in to do "subbing" on request from my son' s team-mates now and again). I love it when a player I've coached in the past comes up to say hello and is genuinely friendly and thankful for my past coaching. That's a real boost and makes coaching very worthwhile.

School Holiday Basketball Camps!

Once again our sponsors International Sports Camps are offering a great deal for Wattle Park Saints families on their 3 day basketball programs – save 30% by booking now at iscamps.com.au 

Junior Coaching opportunities for Winter 2025

With Winter Season almost here, we’ve got some great Junior Coaching opportunities. Please email info@wattleparksaints.org.au to find out more. 

Our Sponsors 

We are very grateful to our sponsors – thanks to these sponsors, we have been able to provide top-notch coaching and development, along with coaching kits to our young aspiring Junior coaches in our community.  This support has not only improved their confidence, leadership and basketball skills but also instils valuable life lessons around teamwork, discipline, perseverance. It's heartening to see this positive impact and how sponsorship makes a difference.

Thank you to our season sponsors

Community Bank Inner East: We are thrilled to announce a partnership with the Community Bank Inner East, and would like to thank Community Bank Inner East for their support. Over $9.5 million dollars has been invested in the local community since 2003. This, and many other projects in our local community, may not have happened without this support. We encourage you to consider the Community Bank for your banking needs.

Pizza & donuts : 668 Canterbury Rd Surrey Hills; www.pizzarepublica.com.au

The Prefurred Groomer:  https://theprefurredgroomer.com.au/

ABAX Accounting: Contact John Hearn jehearn@hotmail.com 

PICAC: A unique industry-led training centre with campuses located in Brunswick, Geelong and Narre Warren Contact: info@picac.edu.au 

Community Bank Inner East

Benetas is a leading not-for-profit provider of residential aged care, retirement living, respite, in-home and community services. 

Camberwell IGA : 1401 Toorak Road Camberwell

Everything's Connected Progressive Osteopathy : 734 Riversdale Road Camberwell 

International Sports Camps: https://iscamps.com.au/ 

Uniform update

For uniform enquiries, head to Uniforms@wattleparksaints.org.au

Share your game day pictures

We would love to receive any game pictures from our Monday, Friday and Saturday Teams, so we can celebrate the players, coaches and WPS community in Halo and on our Facebook & Instagram pages. 

We’re always on the lookout for any pictures of our players in action. You can send these to us at info@wattleparksaints.org.au or through Facebook (WattleParkSaints) using Messenger.

Make sure you let us know a little about the match and the players.

Close Action shots are great, team shots with Coaches are even better!

Dates for the diary

Presentation Day: Sunday 27 April 2pm - 4pm 

Winter Season Saturday competition begins: Saturday 26 April

Final Saturday game before Winter holiday break: Saturday 5 July

Winter Season Monday night competition begins: Monday 28 April

Final Monday night game before Winter holiday break: Monday 30 June

Winter Season Friday night competition begins: Friday 2 May

Final Friday night game before Winter holiday break: Friday 4 July  

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