Ben McCauley, president of the Bendigo Basketball Association, says junior league trips to Melbourne in 25-seater buses – one per team, driven by a parent or coach – have proven beneficial for the children’s basketball and personal development, even if it means the kids don’t get home until 2am.
She regularly catches up with Spirit players like Kelsey Griffin, who was part of the Spirit’s last championship in 2014 alongside former Opal Kristi Harrower, one of Bendigo’s biggest sporting names and now coach of Melbourne’s Southside Flyers.
“It’s nice to be somewhere that you can just pause for a second,” says Sami Whitcomb, guard for the Australian national women’s team and WNBL side Bendigo Spirit.
Bendigo has long had fertile sporting soil but has now produced one of the NBA’s best defensive players as well as successful WNBL and NBL 1 teams.
With an elite women’s team, 4,000 registered players and an outstanding facility, Bendigo enjoys a reputation alongside nearby Ballarat as regional Victoria’s strongest basketball town.
