Fostering Basketball In Country Districts

Southland Times, Issue 24109, 24 April 1940, Page 11

Fostering Basketball In Country Districts

By

ATTACK

With the object of fostering basketball in the country districts representative teams from Invercargill will probably travel to various country centres this season if requests are made by any of the sub-associations. Now that the national tournament is over there would be little difficulty in selecting the personnel of the first grade representative team and there are plenty of players available for a strong secondgrade side. The policy of the Southland Basketball Union to send teams into the country should meet with gratifying results. The country teams will be able to get an idea of the standard of their play in comparison with that of the town sides and the matches should be beneficial to both town and country players. Any young town players who may be selected will gain valuable experience in playing on

strange courts and against different girls. The union has not planned any evening tournaments for this season. The tournaments that were held last year drew good entries from the clubs, but the public support was not very good. It is also likely that girls and officials may have less free time this year because of patriotic work and other activities. However, it may be decided to hold a tournament later in the season if the clubs particularly desire one.

The 1940 season began last Saturday when a successful tournament on the two-life system was conducted. The

season was declared open by Mrs T. Noble, on behalf of the executive. In hoping that the players would have an enjoyable season, Mrs Noble said that she knew the fine sportsmanship noticeable in previous years would again be in evidence this year. Conditions were pleasant for basketball on Saturday and considering that many clubs were trying out new players, the standard of play was quite fair. At the start of any season play is inclined to be ragged in all sports and basketball is no exception. However, there were bright patches in many of Saturday’s games and this augurs well for the season. Excellent entries were received for the tournament, 29 teams taking part. The entries in the individual grades were:—First grade, 7; second grade, 8; third, 9; fourth, 5. The St. Mary’s senior team showed good form to win the first grade section in convincing style. The team contained a number of new players and acquitted itself very well in the circumstances. Unlike some of the other sides the shoots were able to finish off many good movements with goals. M. McGrath was prominent in the attack third and she was solidly supported by M. Lynch, who has turned out again after an absence of two years. That the shoots were in good form is evident from the fact that in three matches 27 goals were scored, and only six against. In the first round St. I Mary’s beat McKenzie’s 12-2. Play at ! the start of this game was ragged, but I St. Mary’s soon gained the upper hand I and won comfortably. St. Mary’s met Stuarts in the second round and the latter team, although defeated by a margin of four goals, performed very well. J. Swale, playing centre for Stuarts, was responsible for some neat work. GOOD FORM In the final St. Mary’s met Rata and played surprisingly well against a strong combination. Rata was beaten convincingly by 8 goals to 1. However, I the team was playing one short. L. Mehaffey was injured early in the tournament and was unable to play in the final match, with the result that the team had to go on the court with only two attacks, A. Macdonald and R. Henderson. Had Rata fielded a full team the scores would probably have been much closer, but this must not be allowed to detract from the fine performance of the St. Mary’s side. Another good match in the senior section was that between Rata and Collegiate. The scores were close and there was little difference between the teams. For Collegiate G. Maley (attack) and E. Neame and C. Smith (centre) were most prominent. Miss L. Hallamore, president of the union, has been given five months’ sick leave and in the meantime her duties ■will be taken over by other members of the executive. It is hoped that it will not be long before Miss Hallamore makes her reappearance on the Waihopai courts on Saturday afternoons.