A new chapter has begun in Oceania basketball, as FIBA Oceania’s Zone Assembly recently elected David Reid as the new Oceania President for FIBA’s upcoming cycle (2023-2027). He has replaced Burton Shipley who has been awarded the title of Member of Honour in the company of Loraine Landon. Iain Potter from New Zealand received the Patricia Ramsay Award, and five new Board Members were also elected during the meeting. In addition to the Assembly, a two-day FIBA Plus Fundamentals workshop was held, gathering representatives from 12 different countries.
Basketball continues its expansion across Oceania and beyond borders. On April 29 the prestigious Draw Ceremony of the FIBA Basketball World Cup was held in Manila, Philippines. Australia and New Zealand both qualified for the pinnacle event and now know the teams they will face in August. The Boomers will compete in Group E with host Japan, Germany and Finland, whereas the Tall Blacks will play against the USA, Jordan, and Greece in Manila.
Looking backward, we review the FIBA 3×3 Asia Cup 2023, which took place from March 29 to April 2 in Singapore. Six Oceania countries were represented in the tournament; Australia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Samoa, Tahiti and Tonga. The Green and Gold collected the gold and silver respectively in the women’s and men’s categories, whilst New Zealand landed second in the women’s category after a tough final against the Gangurrus.
Despite not reaching the second phase of the competition, New Caledonia made history as they were participating for the first time in the Asia Cup, whereas Tonga made it back-to-back appearances at the event after their 2022 campaign.
The Marty Handson Scholarship program started preparing regional coaches ahead of upcoming events such as the FIBA U17 Oceania Championships and the Pacific Games. A similar initiative was conducted by Troy Earle who spent a few days in the Solomon Islands to train local referees for the 3×3 discipline which make its second appearance in the competition.
Besides these development programs, several Basketball For Good programs are currently being rolled out across the different islands of the Pacific, such as the Hoops for Health program. This initiative allows participants – usually aged but not limited to 5-16 years – to develop a healthy lifestyle through basketball drills, and is also an opportunity for people to get introduced to every facet of the game, such as refereeing.