By Grace Jones | posted on January 20, 2019
ALBANY basketballers can now join the only fully constituted club in town following formalisation of the Albany Infernos Basketball Club.
Club president and founding member Karl Kirby said the club spent its off-season last year writing a constitution and getting ratified by the Department of Sport and Recreation.
“There are around 200 teams that play with the Albany Basketball Association but no clubs,” he said.
“Every sport organisation in Albany has clubs; football, netball, soccer, and hockey – they all have clubs.
“Basketball has a long history in Albany and we’re probably the only constituted club to pop up in Albany ever.”
Since forming its first team five seasons ago, the recently ratified club has expanded to 10 teams of both girls and boys, with six coaches.
Kirby said he was proud of the amount of girl teams they had this season.
“We have six girl teams and four boy teams this year,” he said.
“A lot of young girls walk away from the sport when they reach high school.
“I hope that by having club support behind them more girls will stay playing basketball as they get older.”
The Infernos do not have an A-grade team, but Kirby said the club would in future.
“We want to feed kids through the ranks and really get those roots down before getting into A-grade,” he said.
“I would love to see an A-grade team eventually but we need to keep building from a foundational level rather than working from the top down.
“Clubs help support kids work through the ranks and make sure they stay in the sport.”
To join the Albany Infernos Basketball Club, call Kirby on 0427 776 604
