Basketball’s soaring popularity continues to rise in Australia and it’s no surprise when you consider the number of high-profile Australian players now featuring in the NBA like Josh Giddey, Ben Simmons and Patty Mills.
Domestically the NBL is enjoying record crowd attendances as well as an increasing TV audience. Australia is the NBA’s biggest market outside of the US in terms of league pass subscriptions and merchandise sales. It is now the 2nd most popular team sport in the nation and alongside soccer is the most popular sport for 15-24 year olds.
Northern Beaches basketball enthusiast, coach and owner of privately operated ‘Hoops House’ in Brookvale, Tim Hill, says Basketball has a unique appeal.
“I think as a sport it has got the best balance of individuality and teamwork. For that reason, I think it is still one of the most expressive sports there is. It’s also probably the best sport to practice by yourself, you can easily shoot around for an hour and not get bored so in that sense it’s really approachable. Everyone gets a level of enjoyment from just shooting hoops.”
Hill has been a long-time advocate for Basketball on the Northern Beaches having coached various youth, senior and representative basketball for both men and women. Not surprisingly, the biggest challenge for basketball is available court space which was one of the driving factors in opening up his own facility ‘Hoops House’ in the bustling Brookvale Arts District.
“It’s no secret that basketball infrastructure is expensive, so I think basketball needs to lean towards more of a privatised model. There is a lack of availability of facilities on the beaches that are owned by non-for-profit organisations like the Department of Education where you simply can’t access these facilities for most of the day”.
‘Hoops House’ offer members a fully equipped gymnasium and six ball machines that can get you shooting around 600 shots in 40 minutes. Perhaps the biggest feature of the complex however is the full-size basketball court, which is available for training, competition and the odd social shoot-around. ‘Hoops House’ caters for all ages and experience, there is a popular introductory program ‘Hoop Start’ for juniors who are new to the game.
“This is what this place is built for essentially, not so much purely high performance, which of course we offer but we are more based on the wider community. It’s a place where we encourage Mum and Dad to come along with their son or daughter and engage, or just to come down as a member and come find a pickup game on the weekend, it’s important that anyone feels welcome, that community vibe is essentially the ‘Hoops House’ business model.
Open for casual shooters and pro’s alike, check out Hoops House at hoopshouse.com.au and pop into 10 Short Street Brookvale to see for yourself.