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Want to be part of something great? Thursday 6th October at the Snakepit we are holding a GIRLS ONLY workshop. Previous experience required? No previous playing experience needed at all. Workshops are open to all experience and skill levels. Can I participate in a different group despite the age group identified? Please email developmentofficer@snakepit.com.au for further information regarding this request. Cost: $15 per session Register using the button below!

Get ready for the upcoming representative team trials by taking part in our Prep4Rep program. See below for session dates. Schedule Under 12 Under 14 Under 16 Under 18/Youth League

Our spring holiday basketball camps are almost here! Our coaches will guide you through some skills and drills while having a lot of fun along the way. Aimed at 5 to 13 year olds.

A packed Snakepit witnessed the Illawarra Hawks men's NBL1 team storm past the Norths Bears 94-82 to secure a spot in next week's finals weekend, where they'll face the Canberra Gunners at Hills Basketball Stadium in a one-off elimination game to qualify for Sunday's Grand Final. Trailing by nine after a foul-plagued first half, the Hawks outscored the Bears 27-17 in the third and 26-15 in the fourth period despite losing the NBL1's leading scorer Kiwi Gardner midway through the 3rd. Gardner fouled out with 10 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists. Veteran Tim Coenraad led the way with 27 points and 8 boards; Harry Morris had a big second half to finish with 18 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds. Patty Lancaster had 13 & 4. Youngster Sam Giles kept the Hawks in striking distance in the first half with a couple of needed threes on his way to 10 points and 4 boards in 20 minutes. Watch the replay on the NBL1 East site. Earlier Saturday the Hawks Women's NBL1 team had their season ended at North Sydney in their elimination game against the Bears. The team made it back to the Snakepit in time to celebrate the Men's win. Photo Gallery Photos/Video: Joel Armstrong

It's Finals time for Coles Express NBL1 East teams and our Spalding Waratah Youth Women. Both of our Ladies teams are away this weekend for their Quarter Finals with the Coles Express NBL1 East Women playing Norths @ 5pm and our Spalding Waratah Youth Women playing the Central Coast @ 12pm. Saturday night at the Snakepit Our Men will be at home at the Snakepit for our very last home game of the season playing the North Bears at 7pm. Get in early to watch the Girls on a big screen upstairs in the bar from 5pm. Let's pack out the Snakepit to support the teams and celebrate the 2022 NBL1 Season.

Coaching Expressions of Interests are now open for our 2023 Representative teams. If you are interested in coaching one of our Rep23 teams, you'll find the link to the form below. Please read the information on the EOI form carefully before submitting. If you have any questions about the form, you can email developmentmanager@snakepit.com.au

Graduating Athletes To be a Basketball lllawarra graduating athlete in our Junior Rep Program, the athlete must have represented the club from Under 12s to Under 18s across their entire junior basketball career. This year we are fortunate enough to acknowledge 7 athletes who have represented Basketball lllawarra for the last 7 or more years as part of the Junior Rep Program. Congratulations to: • Benjamin Lu • Benjamin Hunwick • Jackson Paulic • Mason Broadhead • Tobias Delaney • Imogen Thompson • Eva Loncar Junior Referee of the Year - Caitlyn Bloomfield Caitlyn Bloomfield has been a dedicated Basketball lllawarra and Basketball NSW representative for several years. She represented the association at the NSW U18 State Championships whilst refereeing Monday to Friday at the Snakepit in our Local Competitions. She is currently working towards her advance refereeing grading and will enter the NSW Senior Waratah League in 2023 as a representative of Basketball lllawarra. Basketball lllawarra would like to thank Caitlyn for her countless hours and dedication to the association and we look forward to watching her career flourish. Junior Coach of the Year - Brett Bonham Our Junior Coach of the Year has been awarded to a Coach that has shown dedication and commitment to their team, allowing them to participate at a higher level than they ever expected to play at. They have allowed their team to develop as individuals first to compete at the highest level they can in the future. Our Junior Coach of the Year has been awarded to Brett Bonham. Junior Male Athlete of the Year - Brad Ballinger Brad Ballinger lead his lllawarra side in scoring and rebounding throughout the JPL Season. He was selected in the NSW U18 Country Men State Team where they finished 4th at the National Championships in April this year. Selection into the U17 Australian Squad was a highlight and milestone for his Junior Basketball career, but unfortunately contracting COVID made him unable to attend the Australian Camp. Junior Female Athlete of the Year - Imogen Thompson Imogen Thompson has represented our Association with a great deal of pride and respect through all her years. As a result of her hard work, she has had the opportunity to represent NSW on several Development Tours and Camps. This year she was selected in the NSW Country State Team who claimed Bronze at the Championships. Imogen not only contributes on the court, but this year has begun to give back to the Association through coaching at our Development Programs whilst finishing her studies. We are excited to watch Imogen begin her Senior Career at Basketball lllawarra. Junior Team of the Year - Under 14 Girls JPL Basketball lllawarra's team of the year has been awarded to a team that not only has excelled on court in competition but has created an environment and culture within their team that has been recognised as one of the best across their age group in the state of NSW. The Under 14 Girls JPL team includes several very gifted and talented young basketballers who are yet to reach their potential as individuals and as a team. They were the front runners for majority of their regular season and have continued to improve and enhance their game because of their training and attitude to competing at a high-level week in and week out. We wish the team all the best of luck over the next 7 weeks leading up to their Nationals Campaign.

Under 12 Boys At the beginning of the 2022 season, all Coaches approached the season with the goal of growing the U12 Boys age group. U12 Boys Development approached the season with a fun and enthusiastic idea to have the most fun possible at the same time as building their fundamental understanding of skills and game play. U12 Boys SJL 2 had an individual skill set development outlook to the season to improve as individuals leading into future years of Representative Basketball. U12 Boys SJL 1 learnt fundamental, team orientated defence, before attacking the offence game of basketball which proved successful in their competitive season in the SJL Competition claiming a silver in the Grand Final. Under 12 Girls At the beginning of the 2022, all U12 Girls coaches decided to approach this season as pure development and growth of our game. Their season was purely about skill development, building confidence and basketball concepts rather than having a winning mentality. This had a positive outcome in the age group as each team and individual player improved every game of every round and begun to think and play at a higher level as the season progressed. They celebrated their wins and learnt from their losses with a positive mindset. As a result of the overall improvement from the age group, we have been able to split our U12 Girls Local Competition into two divisions to allow for further development and higher skilled games to take place. Under 14 Boys Lots of trialists but a total of 30 athletes in the U14 Boys Program proved to be a difficult task to do. As a result, we were able to construct 3 very competitive and well-rounded athletes. U14 Boys Development – for a team of lots of new faces into the Rep Program they were inspiring to watch play and compete, which has helped them gain the confidence and ability to compete with the highest level. U14 Boys SJL – a tough SJL League could have brought their spirits down, however they chose to keep working on what they could improve on as individuals to help stay competitive across the year. U14 Boys JPL – little in size, but huge in effort and heart. This team was competitive all season, only losing to the top metro teams by less than 10 points. Qualifying for U14 Nationals was a huge milestone for this team! Under 14 Girls With lots of potential, talented and gifted athletes in this age group, it was an exciting group to watch develop and compete over the space of the year. U14 Girls Development – improved and developed over each training as individuals and as a team. They competed every game they were and battled right to the very end. U14 Girls SJL – despite a very tough SJL League, our girls continued to get better and push themselves to stay competitive throughout the entire season. U14 Girls JPL – standouts in the new JPL format have come in leaps and bounds in their Basketball IQ and understanding of the game. Qualifying for U14 Nationals was a huge milestone for this team! Under 16 Boys With the largest trial registrations in our Rep22, our U16 Boys program sought to be a very high-level cohort with results flowing in all season. U16 Boys Development – had a successful year on the floor with a very competitive season collecting a Gold Medal in their respective competition. U16 Boys SJL – had a competitive season focused on individual skill development whilst enhancing Basketball IQ and concepts used in different team aspects and scenarios. U16 Boys JPL – had an extremely competitive and successful season finishing first in the Country Pool but just missing out on a gold medal game at the State Championship. Under 16 Girls Across the Under 16 Girls Program, all 3 teams endured a difficult season on the floor and off the floor with sickness and injuries however they banded together to keep trying, improving and working hard. Without the help of Grant, Wendy, Deb, Brittany and Kalo – the three teams would not have developed in the way that they have. All girls involved in the Rep Program have had a fantastic year with lots of smiles and laughter despite the results never going their way. Under 18 Boys With a large portion of the U18 Boys entering their final year of Junior Representative Basketball, the goal was simple – play hard, play together & have fun! U18 Development came away from the Barrengarry season as undefeated champions with lots of smiles and laughter from the season. U18 SJL had a season of mixed results but came away as Runners Up in claiming silver in the SJL Competition and a silver at John Martin Tournament U18 JPL with 5 returning knowing the feeling of winning a State Championship in previous years has their eyes set on the prize, however falling short in the Semi-Final at the State Championship saw them finish 3rd overall in NSW. Under 18 Girls Our Under 18 Girls would have to be one of our closest-knit groups in the whole association! This has been put down to 1 thing. Their coaches – Troy & Amanda – who kept the team accountable all season but created the funniest environment possible. The girls endured a very competitive season going up against some of the red-hot teams and competing with them for majority of games. They showed the league, they could compete at a high level and play with uttermost enjoyment every game. Thank you to all our athletes, coaches, managers, and families for their contribution to the Rep22 Season.

Come along to celebrate the 2021-2022 Junior Rep Season on August 14 @ Wests Illawarra! Finger food will be provided to the athletes during their hour time slot. More information will be sent out to Players and Parents soon. Let's Go Hawks!!

We are incredibly excited to announce the launch of our new and evolving website! The new snakepit.com.au site is modern and easy to navigate, with clear links to our extensive basketball services that will help existing players and associates find what you need, full of bright imagery and visuals to help attract new people into our basketball family. We've added new features to help you get the information you need; some of these include: Mobile friendly Sections for each of our major cohorts Junior Development Local Competitions (Junior and Senior) Representative (Junior and Senior) NBL1 and Waratah Site search FAQs section where we'll continually add frequently asked questions. Upcoming Events and important dates. News for each cohort Rep coaches and team managers will be offered access to submit game recaps for their teams. Contact form system Sponsors showcase so that you can support our supporters. Work has commenced on replacing the paper-based court booking process with an online system. Over the coming months we'll continue to update content and features. Hit the red "Contact Details" at the bottom of this (and every page) to let us know what you think of our new website - all comments and feedback are welcome. Tell us if you cannot find something or would like to make any suggestions for new information or FAQ topics. Site Photo Galleries and Banner Photos by Joel Armstrong and Daniel Bennett.

Our men and women NBL1 teams head into the final round after a successful home doubleheader over the weekend. Both teams had hard-fought wins over Norths Bears on Saturday night, before backing up on Sunday afternoon against Albury-Wodonga Bandits. Harry Morris unleashed with 40 points (8 threes) and 8 rebounds, whilst Kiwi Gardner just missed out on a triple-double with 31,11 and 9 rebounds as the men ran out 113-84 winners. The women's team fell to the league-leading Bandits, after a tough come-from-behind win 72-70 over Norths on Saturday night where Ella Dent filled the stat sheet to the tune of 20 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists. With two games to play in final round, both teams have a chance to lock in higher rankings heading into the playoffs. The men's team (2nd, 13-7) can secure a Top 2 finish in a congested top of the table with wins over Sutherland (6th, 11-9) and Maitland (3rd, 13-7). The women's (5th, 11-7) face Sutherland (2nd, 14-4) and Maitland (10th, 3-15) to close out the regular season. First and Second placed get a direct entry into the Semi Finals, whilst Third and Fourth host Fifth and Sixth in the play-in game. Photos: Dan Bennet Photography.

We've got a special treat for our NBL1 fans this weekend! A double header calls for double NBL talent. Both Tim Coenraad and Oscar Forman will be suiting up on Saturday and Sunday for our NBL1 East Mens Team. Doors open @ 12pm on Saturday so get down to the Snakepit to see all the action for our last regular season home games for 2022.