Basketball Australia welcomes AusPlay statistics showing participation growth

In a year where four Australian teams competed across the Olympics and Paralympics, Basketball Australia has welcomed new statistics from the Australian Sports Commission that shows how the sport continues to boom at junior level.

The newly released AusPlay national survey shows basketball is the second popular team sport, behind football, for 15 to 24-year-olds followed by tennis and netball and third for participation for five to 14-year-olds behind swimming and football.

Participation in basketball remains significantly higher with males across all age groups, a statistic that is the focus of Basketball Australia initiatives such as She Hoops which works tirelessly to make our sport more accessible and inclusive to women and girls.

She Hoops is targeting a number of areas to increase participation including holiday camps for girls, mentoring, free events and leaderships scholarships.

Basketball Australia advised that with the Opals “winning an Olympic bronze medal in Paris, there has never been a better time to build on momentum and grow female participation and with initiatives including girls-only Aussie Hoops programs run in a number of the states there is a renewed focus on growing this number.”

It also advises “(we have received) a record number of entries headlines the Footlocker Australian School Championships that will take place on the Gold Coast in December with a bumper 216 schools set to compete.”

Basketball Australia adds “with WNBL and NBL seasons in action domestically plus a plethora of Australians playing in the NBA and throughout Europe, basketball remains front and centre.”

Image credit: Basketball NSW.