Catholic-Christian School Online Newsletter 6th April – BMBA Basketball – building better players, mentoring better people

BMBA School Newsletter

Issue Number 6

Wednesday, 6th April, 2022

Seven days to go before we start our April school holiday camp at St Michael's Grammar.

The countdown is on for our April School Holidays camp. From today there are just seven days to go before a limited number of young basketballers get the exciting opportunity to spend four days with two great basketball minds.

From Monday the 11th of April through to Thursday the 14th of April the BMBA will be conducting four days of basketball skills, drills, games and coaching. Help us promote this camp so we can continue to conduct clinics for FREE at your school. To help us in this endeavour you can either share our promotional video below or place our poster below in a prominent position at your school

For full details on our camp CLICK HERE.

BMBA to conduct June/July holiday camp and after school training at Wellington Secondary College.

The BMBA is pleased to announce that it is now in the process of securing court space at Wellington Secondary College for a June/July holiday camp and after school training for term three and possibly term two.

“We inspected the court last week and were pleasantly surprised at it’s quality. We didn’t hesitate to get the ball rolling on locking in this space.” enthused BMBA director/owner Bob Mann. “We now have two quality courts that will allow us to deliver quality programs. We are excited about the opportunities that this will present us.”

With both St Michael’s Grammar and Wellington Secondary College available to the BMBA, it significantly increases the programs and services we can provide to juniors in those areas. “We are hopeful now that we will be able to build our relationships with both schools and in doing so build our numbers within our programs and teams. After two years of covid-19 and precious little sport, it’s exciting to be back providing opportunities for our youth to participate in this sport we have a passion for.

Further information on this development is to be announced in the near future.

USA import David Menary joins the BMBA.

The BMBA is thrilled to announce that 6-5 USA shooting forward David Menary will be joining our ranks. David enjoyed a stellar high school and college basketball career. David played at the University of Redland where in his last season in 2018/2019 he achieved the following:

Helped the team to a SCIAC semi-final appearance for the first time since the 2015-16 season
Started in all 25 games he played in
Played 30.1 minutes per game
Shot 52.6% from the field and 80.0% from the free throw line
Ranked third in the SCIAC with 19.2 points per game
Finished second on the team with 6.3 rebounds per game
Led the team with 2.2 offensive rebounds per contest

David achieved the following awards while at Redlands.

First-Team All-SCIAC honoree (2019)
Second-Team All-SCIAC honoree (2018

In his senior high school year at Nevada Union High School David averaged 17.2 points, 8.8 rebounds and 3.1 assists.

So as you can see, we have just added a person of considerable talent and experience to our ranks who will help us deliver some outstanding coaching skills towards all the juniors that join our programs. We can’t wait to get him out to your schools starting from term two.

Check out some video highlights of David in action below

BMBA to after school training at St Michaels Grammar & Wellington Secondary College.

The BMBA is excited to announce that from term two we will be commencing after school training for juniors on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at both St Michael’s Grammar and Wellington Secondary College.

At Wellington Secondary College we will be conducting sessions on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. At St Michael’s we will be conducting sessions on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Further details will be coming out next week.

To say that we are excited to be providing quality training to juniors at two quality venues is an understatement. The BMBA is committed to providing great training and development to every junior who wants it and securing these two venues and spaces enables us to do just that with more to come.

Check out our Camp Promo Video

Can you share this promotional video through your school’s social media? Evert camp enrolment helps us visit schools to conduct FREE clinics. Also, these camps are great fun for participants and are a great way for parents to give their kids something to do in the holidays.

Can you help promote our camp?

The only way we can provide our services for FREE to schools during school terms is to conduct successful holiday camps. If you can assist in this effort then we can come out to your school to conduct FREE clinics during future school terms.

If you could help us out by placing a camp poster on notice boards at your school or via your school website or newsletter, it would be greatly appreciated. We have a jpeg file you could include on a website or in an email newsletter. Simply right-click on the image and then click on “save image as” to download this jpeg file.

Alternatively, you can CLICK HERE to download a PDF version of the flyer for notice boards etc!

If you need anything else, such as a smaller sized image or a different type of flyer, simply contact us o let us know and we will arrange it. Anything you can do to assist will be greatly appreciated and help us get to your school to run a FREE clinic for your students.

Great success at St Joseph's Elsternwick FREE clinic.

Last Tuesday we enjoyed a great day at St Joseph’s primary school in Elsternwick. Joe Davis and Bob Mann spent the day sharing their basketball, knowledge, drills ad passion for the game with St Joseph Grades 3, 4, 5 & 6 students.

Pleasingly the St Joseph’s kids were just as passionate and enthusiastic about the game. On top of that, they were polite, well-mannered and well behaved. Joe and Bob took the kids through dribbling and shooting drills, some skills games and a quick game at the end of each class where the girls plus Joe took on the boys.

It was a great day for all who were involved and hopefully results in a bunch of registrations for the BMBA upcoming holiday camp at St Michael’s Grammar.

The BMBA would like to thank St Joseph’s Sports teacher Louise Howell for all her support in arranging the clinic and supporting the BMBA April holiday camp.

Our Coaches, what they are up to.

Joe has a monster weekend in the BIG V.

All-Star Canadian import, Joe Davis, dominated his weekend of BIG V basketball in just his third round of the season.

Joe had two games where he returned 24 points in both matches. In his second game against Craigieburn Joe had a game-high 24 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists. He followed this up the next day against Maccabi with a massive 24 points and 12 rebounds. Due to Joe’s efforts, Pakenham recorded strong wins in both games.

After four games Joe is ranked second in the league in scoring and is still finding his feet as he adjusts to the league and Australian basketball more generally.

We can’t wait to see his progress as he gets deeper into his BIG V season.

Coach Mann get his Magic team home

In between contracting covid-19 and massive car issues and repair bills, BMBA founder, coach Bob Mann has been getting his nerves well and truly tested. His Hawthorn Magic boys team in their last seven games have endured the following

A draw versus Frankston
A 2 point loss versus Waverley
A 5 point win against Sandringham
A 1 point win against Kilsyth
A 2 point loss versus Waverley again
A 2 point loss versus Port Phillip and on Friday
A 1 point win against Sherbrooke

Is it any wonder that at his last G.P. appointment he was advised he had high blood pressure. Bob cannot recall another time in his 30+ years of coaching so many consecutive games being so close.

The positive Bob takes from this is how competitive his boys are. His team is still learning his structures and Bob is extremely confident that when they finish that process, these close results will evolve into comfortable wins. He certainly hopes so for his own personal health.

Recent Updates and News

BMBA U16 Warriors looking for boys for their A grade team.

The BMBA Warriors are looking for boys born in either 2007 or 2008 that would be interested in playing in A grade domestic competition while receiving excellent, knowledge and experienced coaching.

Our U16 Boys teams have done an outstanding job to make the A grade competition at the Sandringham Basketball Association, but are restricted due to only having 6 players. We are currently looking for at least two more players.

So if you know of boys born in either 2007 or 2008 that are motivated and looking for an opportunity to play a high level while receiving some excellent coaching, get them in contact with our head coach Bob Mann via his mobile 0490 823 400 or his email bob_mann@bmba.net.au

After School Training. Is your school interested?

Interested in securing after school training at your school for your students where they will receive high-quality coaching. Interested in having teams formed for your students though that training to be entered into competitions to represent your school?

At BMBA we are extremely interested in securing agreements with both primary and secondary schools to establish training on-site, after school at your school FOR YOUR STUDENTS.

The intention would be to form teams to enter into competitions to represent both your school and our BMBA program. This training and these teams can then complement school teams in representative competitions that your school may engage in.

Why not contact us today to discuss this opportunity further.

McKinnon Primary School Book us in for June.

McKinnon Primary School have been the first school to book us in for a FREE CLINIC for their school and students. Joe Davis, our Canadian import will be visiting McKinnon Primary School in early June for a week, conducting coaching clinics for each year level.

While there, Joe will also be educating kids about the BMBA program and what we have to offer them if they share our passion for the sport of basketball. Joe will give the McKinnon Primary School students some drills, show them some skills and provide plenty of entertainment and fun.

Last week we paid Dylan Hislop a visit. Dylan arranged the clinic for us in June at the school and we wanted to introduce him to Joe and to say thank you for his efforts. We are looking forward to these clinics at McKinnon Primary School with some excitement and anticipation as we begin our Schools Program journey.

If you would like Joe to visit your school contact him via his email development@bmba.net.au or contact him via his mobile 0480 305 761.

Alternatively. you can contact Bob Mann via his email bob_mann@bmba.net.au or through his mobile 0490 823 400.

Christianity Through Hoops Program.

At BMBA basketball we are not just about building better players, we also want to mentor better people. We will be implementing this through our “Christianity through Hoops” program.

The primary purpose of this program is covered in our program’s emblem, “The Templars” which is explained below. The way we implement and conduct our programs wants to reflect age-old values for our participants that we believe are just as important in these modern times and moving into the future. In a subtle way through our love of basketball, we want to help embed within our players a sense of honesty, respect, honour and dignity in the way they conduct themselves.

We believe sport is an ideal vehicle for this.

Why the Templars?

We chose the Templars as we believe some values are eternal.

We don’t just want our symbol/mascot to project strength and tenacity, we want it to be something that defines our culture and the values we want to embed amongst our participants and players.

While the Templar Knights were fierce Medieval Warriors, they also lived by a code of honour, respect, courage and they dedicated their lives to self-sacrifice in the pursuit of servitude towards others.

We believe that this represents the culture we want to build within our program perfectly.

Younger Kids

We do our best to group participants to match their ages and abilities as much as possible. This ensures the kids obtain as much enjoyment as possible from their time with us. Generally, for younger kids, the emphasis is as much on having some fun while being taught some new skills to use in their domestic games or programs.

In teaching these skills we do so as much as possible through drill formats with the kids in teams and engaging in competitive drills with plenty of encouragement and with more emphasis on attempting to use their newly taught skills as on winning.

Older Kids

For our older groups, we teach them more through simulated match situations and scrimmage games. Drills are still used but with the mindset of using these drills to develop skills for games situations and then putting them into those game situations.

While still focusing on enjoyment and fun, older participants are normally looking for more challenging training and coaching with a greater emphasis on competition and challenges with the skills being taught.

Girls

Our training is designed for both boys and girls. Where numbers permit we organise girls into “girl only” groups which make things more enjoyable for the girls. We also design different skills challenges for the girl’s groups.

In the unusual event (especially in the older groups) that a girl or girls would prefer to join in with the boys, we would look at that situation where capabilities permit it.

Boys

Of course, our training is open for boys as well. As with the girls, we look to form them into boys-only groups. This again is dependent on the number of enrolments we have.

These groups are sorted along both age and capability lines as well as keeping kids in their friendship groups where possible. Most importantly, as best as possible we place participants in groups where they are comfortable with their current skill level and where they can obtain the most enjoyment from their participation in the BMBA program.

For the more motivated

We also have groups for those players who are more motivated and wish to obtain more serious training to improve their game. We can either form them into a separate group or embed them in a group and simply provide them with more challenging drills and skills for them to use and learn from.

They will receive condensed high-level coaching and drills that will challenge them and help them improve their current skills considerably or learn new ones for future games and opportunities.

Our Coaches

Our Coaches are predominately players Bob has brought through with him via his caching career. They all have predominately graduated through Bob’s representative basketball programs. We also recruit coaches from Universities and schools who have either played or coached at a high level. All our coaches are trained in the drills and basketball programs that we implement and are supervised through all our sessions. Naturally, all of them will have to obtain and provide Working with Children Checks to be able to work with us, where they are old enough to have one.

Our Venues

At the moment we operate from outdoor school courts due to Covid-19, but we are now working to secure an indoor court now that schools have reopened from lockdowns.

We are looking for a venue in the South East Suburbs of Melbourne, preferably within the boundaries of the cities of Glen Eira, Bayside or Kingston.

If your school fits that bill and wants to help us have kids in our community become involved in a positive recreation and program while making some revenue for your school, then contact us to discuss the possibilities.

Book a clinic today!

We are now ready and willing to go. So book us in to visit your school to promote our sport, our program and the possibilities we can present for many of your students.

CLICK HERE to contact us today to book us into a visit to your school.