AGM Nominations

There have been a number of enquiries regarding nominating for the Executive of the EDJBA, to be renamed the Committee of Management under the new constitution, if accepted by the Consumer Affairs Department.  In particular people have asked for advice on the procedure to nominate.

This is exciting news and I personally would like to encourage enthusiastic people to stand for the committee.

I have copied below the relevant clause from the constitution for those who would like to nominate for the committee.  This procedure is relevant for both the new and old constitution.

a)     Nominations of candidates for election as officers of the Committee or as members of the Committee, shall be called for from Active Clubs and:

(i)        shall be made in writing, signed by two officials of  an Active Club or Active Clubs of the Association and accompanied by the written consent of the candidate (which may be endorsed on the form of the nomination) and; 

(ii)       shall be delivered to the Office of the EDJBA not less than seven (7) days before the date fixed for the holding of the Annual General Meeting. 

As most people are aware the office of the EDJBA is located at the Templestowe Leisure Centre, 1 Anderson Street Templestowe.  An EDJBA drop box is located on the wall outside the office if no-one is present. 

With the planned restructure of the committee it is vital that people realise the importance of these elections bearing in mind that each committee member will be required to chair a sub-committee dealing with specific tasks of the running of the EDJBA.  These include governance, competition, promotion, development and communication among other procedural tasks. 

Therefore I ask and recommend that people give serious thought to nominating for the committee so that the already strong structure of the association is better placed to meet the challenges of the future. We are waiting for confirmation of acceptance of the new constitution from Consumer Affairs, and it is expected that the next AGM will be held in November.

Social Media

Members of the Executive, and in particular officials of two clubs, have been dealing with a difficult and serious social media issue emanating from a game between teams from the respective clubs.  I have no intention of going into the details of the incident or identifying the clubs or individuals involved. 

However I would like to state that social media used by young people can be a dangerous tool.  Unfortunately people, in using social media, appear to think that their opinions, utterances and the like remain among friends.  Unfortunately the nature of social media is such that the potential for the whole world to be aware of and read the uploads is possible.

I ask everyone involved in the EDJBA to be aware of the problems Facebook and Twitter can create.  This latest incident is not going to be the last, I am sure, but I would strongly advise all officials in our thirteen clubs to pass on to their players and members the dangers of this form of communication when it is used to attack people or organisations.

In discussing this latest incident with Basketball Victoria we were advised that the parties involved should have been reported and brought before a tribunal hearing.

We elected to ask the clubs involved to address the issues internally and between themselves and the latest report is that this was being done in a very mature and responsible way with great cooperation on both sides.

I therefore request that everyone be made aware of the danger of social media and the possible serious consequences for the individuals involved.

London Olympics

As with most of you I have been watching the considerable television coverage of the London Olympics.  My wife and I were fortunate in that one of our sons bought us a Foxtel subscription with the prime purpose of providing us with blanket coverage of the Olympics on eight designated channels.

I must say how privileged we were to be able to watch in their entirety all of Australia’s basketball matches plus many of the other countries games along with all the other events on offer.

We are in a very responsible position in organising junior domestic basketball.  It is at this level that the future Australian Boomers or Opals are introduced to the game. We therefore have a responsibility to not only teach skills for use on the court but skills to deal with victory and defeat.

Apart from the exceptional performances on display from the world’s greatest athletes the aspect of the Games that caught my attention was the high level of sportsmanship exhibited by these very same athletes. 

To see the Games close this morning with the close fought men’s basketball final that was both high in the level of skill displayed and also the physical nature of the game was a high point for me.

But of greater significance for me was the way in which the combatants embraced after the game. It made me think that there are times when we take our games at junior domestic level far too seriously.  Yes we want to win and yes we want to be able to celebrate but once the contest is over we should also be able to put aside differences and embrace as the world’s best have just done.

We are all guilty of shouting at referees and at times blaming them for our loss but I have yet to see a game decided by referee decisions.  So I ask that we take this lesson from the Olympics, play hard, celebrate our successes, draw strength from our defeats and accept that at the end of the day we are all part of the basketball family and therefore we need to embrace when the contest is over as the best have just demonstrated. 

Communication

With the appointment of Jo Chu as the Business Office Manager for the EDJBA the association moved onto a much more professional footing.  This appointment meant that the way we communicate has changed.

It is important that all officials are aware of this change and now direct their queries, requests, applications and issues to Jo who in turn will redirect them to the appropriate person if she is unable to address them herself.

I therefore stress that everyone follow this procedure so that there is a clear line of communication and more importantly a point of contact common to everyone.

Once again, 

Happy Hoops

Ron Carlton

President.