Erin Pearson
GEELONG Supercats has added to its talent contingency with a youth support program and plans for a women’s team.
General manager David Hoey said the Supercats wanted to increase its size and offer Geelong basketball talent more opportunities to play at an elite level.
Hoey said the new youth initiative, Aspiring Supercats program, aimed to develop basketball talent in Geelong.
The Supercats would join forced with Basketball Geelong to target players from under 16 and 18 age groups.
Hoey said Supercats coach Jamie O’Loughlin would run the program to provide participants with training and insight into “the life of a Supercat”.
“The program will allow these development players the opportunity to understand and experience the expectations of higher-level basketball including exposure to the team concept, skill development, pre and post-game requirements, drills, strength and conditioning and game play.”
Hoey said the Supercats had also lodged an expression of interest with South East Australian Basketball League to field a women’s team in 2011.
“It’s a long-term goal of the club to have a women’s team as part of the overall involvement and certainly, given the recent success of Basketball Geelong’s championship team in 2010, we thought it was timely to put forward a combined approach to the Supercats with men’s and women’s rosters,” he said.
Hoey’s feedback from SEABL had left him “very confident”.
“They were enormously pleased after all these years that Geelong is moving forward with a women’s team,” he said.