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ABOUT BOB MANN

Bob has been working in the basketball industry since 1990. In particular, Bob has enjoyed working as the General Manager for both the McKinnon Basketball Association (1990 to 2009) and the Oakleigh Basketball Association (2009 to 2016).

 

At the McKinnon Basketball Association, Bob effectively built the Association from the ground up. In 1990 he formed two teams, one junior and one open age, from his local cricket club and formed the McKinnon Lakers basketball club (now Bentleigh Lakers) and within five years Bob had grown the club to 25 teams. In 1995 he secured the use of a brand new one court stadium at McKinnon Secondary College. At that point, he went onto to launch the McKinnon Basketball Association and affiliated it with Basketball Victoria.

In 1995 Bob visited local primary and secondary schools to conduct clinics for students and through that effort formed the Garden State Warriors and Brighton Wolves basketball clubs. In coming years, Bob also formed the Moorabbin Magic and St Pauls Saints basketball clubs in a similar fashion and secured two-court stadiums at both Bentleigh Secondary College and Brighton Secondary College. Through this development and growth, Bob ensured that Glen Eira council included a three-court stadium in their plans for a new recreation centre on East Boundary Road now known as the Glen Eira Sports and Aquatic Centre.
 
In 2009 Bob left the McKinnon Basketball Association to take over the management of the Oakleigh Basketball Association which at that stage was on the verge of going out of existence. At Oakleigh, he gradually grew the Association through their domestic club at the Southern Basketball Association and a representative program at the Oakleigh Basketball Association (OBA). The OBA, however, was extremely hamstrung by an outdated agreement at the Oakleigh Recreation Centre. Due to this, Bob led the OBA to lodge an application for court usage at the Glen Eira Recreation Centre (GESAC). To both their surprise and their delight, they won this expression of interest process in 2011 and moved into GESAC in 2012.
 
Between 2012 and 2016 Bob oversaw the growth of the OBA from 12 teams and 70 members to a thriving club of 100 teams and over 500 members. In 2011 The OBA had an annual turnover of $70,000per annum, by the time Bob had finished in his position the club had an annual turnover of over $500,000.00 per annum.
 
At both Associations, Bob performed several roles, but was always the face of both clubs and performed the CEO roles throughout his time at both organisations. At both Associations not only did he ensure significant growth in membership, competition numbers and annual turnover, but he also oversaw great success on the court with 20+ teams making the state’s top junior competition, the Victorian Championships despite a serious disadvantage in financial resources, training and laying facilities and player depth.
 
In 2016, after becoming frustrated with the restraints imposed on him through the internal and external politics of running a non-profit sports Association, Bob decided to establish his own private basketball enterprise, the Bob Mann Basketball Academy. Since then Bob has been providing elite-level training to junior players, forming teams and entering them into various competitions and tournaments and since COVID-19 restrictions have lifted has conducted FREE school clinics for over 5,000 students at over twenty-five schools across Eastern and South-Eastern Melbourne.
 
At the end of 2024, Bob was successful in securing space at the state-of-the-art Stonnington Sports Centre which is located next to Chadstone Shopping Centre. This now allows him to establish his training programs and competitions at this magnificent venue, across the Stonnington LGA and more broadly, across the South-east suburbs of Melbourne.
 
Bob, free of any restraints, is now looking to build something very special for junior basketballers in Melbourne.