Melbourne United launch ‘Thanksgiving Week’ by paying tribute to Victorian basketball Clubs and Associations

Melbourne United is proud to today launch our ‘Thanksgiving Week’. A week which will see the club pay tribute to our community, fans, members and partners who have stuck by us through what has been a difficult 2020.

Today we are saying thank you to our junior basketball Clubs and Associations, who are on the cusp of returning to the court after two separate lockdowns in Victoria forced the state’s various metro and regional competitions to shut down.

After months of lockdown, our whole club is excited to see junior basketball players return to the court, but it was Head Coach Dean Vickerman who expressed his excitement for the restart.

“As a father with two daughters who play the game, it’s been great to see them get back into practice after not playing for so long,” he told Melbourne United Media.

“It’s really exciting to see them be back focusing on basketball and hopefully soon we’ll see that Friday night commute return and then we’ll be moving around our state again, enjoying the game that they love.”

The club today is also pleased to introduce The United Sideline, an initiative which has seen local basketball clubs and associations from all around Victoria send in their respective jerseys to be displayed at Melbourne United’s pre-season practice sessions.

Shea Ili runs along The United Sideline

Vickerman said it was fantastic to see the acknowledgement of the state’s junior basketball competitions.

“We had the jerseys (on the sidelines) for the first-time last Thursday and it sparked interest,” he said.

“I think we had about 20 jerseys from associations around Victoria and there were conversations about which jersey was which and who played where, it was a really positive thing for all of our players to connect the junior associations to people that they knew.

“It’s a great initiative for the club.”

Sam Short & Chris Golding in front of The United Sideline

It is also an exciting time for Basketball Victoria, who is preparing to relaunch countless junior basketball competition across the state.

CEO Nick Honey confirmed a December relaunch was being targeted after restrictions were eased even further over the weekend.

“This is incredibly exciting,” he said.

“We’ve been preparing for this for a long time. We got really close after the first lockdown but regrettable and understandably we had to go back into hibernation.

“We cannot wait to get back in the coming weeks, but we’ll be really careful with how we do it.

“You don’t just turn this sport on and off, so we’ll have to make sure we adhere to all the protocols to make sure our reintroduction is a success.

“It’s an interesting time, we’ll try and get some domestic basketball back in December so we can relaunch in 2021.

“We’ll certainly look at regionalising things like our rep program so people aren’t traveling as far, making it a more efficient competition.”

In the spirit of ‘Thanksgiving Week’ Melbourne United would like to once again say thank you to all of our metro and regional Clubs and Associations. You have been without our sport for so long now and we can’t wait to see you all back out on those courts.

Stay tuned for more exciting ‘Thanksgiving Week’ stories and initiatives.

To have your Club or Association represented in The United Sideline post your jersey to:
Melbourne United Basketball 
PO Box 3, MSAC
30 Aughtie Drive, Albert Park 3216