Taree Basketball is celebrating two significant milestones in the 2017 Molten Waratah Country Premier League.
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Its U14 girls team secured its first win of the competition this weekend against the Maitland Mustangs in a close contest and Basketball NSW invited Grace McCallum of Tinonee to patrol the action on court as a referee at Niagara Park.
Paul Healy of Taree Basketball said the invitation from BNSW was a first for Taree and a “reward for her hard work and skill development.”
“Grace is making good progress on the march to higher accreditation in this very important area of the sport,” Paul said.
“Taree Basketball congratulates Grace on her first venture into this level of basketball officiating and as a product of the Taree Basketball referee development program Steve Campbell also needs to take a bow.”
- Paul Healy
Grace described the experience of refereeing at CPL as “educational and helpful in improving my skills as an official.”
“In some ways it was actually easier as the skill level of the players meant game play wasn’t as messy.”
Grace described CPL as “a more competitive environment” and added that “the coaches and spectators were more involved than other levels of basketball.”
She said she loved the camaraderie of the basketball community in Taree and in the various NSW leagues and had formed numerous friendships as an U16s Taree Tornadoes Northern Junior League player and also as a referee.
She praised the support the Taree Basketball community offered to her and in particular gave a shout out to referee development program coach, Steve Campbell and Taree Basketball Association secretary and U14 CPL and NJL coach, Steve Atkins.
“I am so thankful. They have made so many experiences possible for me and it’s great to see so many new referees in Taree Basketball. I’m enjoying being part of Taree Basketball and loving seeing so much success for the association – now all we need is to get a super stadium in Taree so that players from all over NSW can come here to play.”