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TERM 4 2008 TOURNAMENTS

Tournament running this term include
the following:

Armidale, Sat 6/9 - 1/11,
Armidale@midnightbasketball.org.au

Bathurst, Sat 25/10 - 13/12,
Bathurst@midnightbasketball.org.au

Bendigo, Sat 4/10 - 22/11,
Bendigo@midnightbasketball.org.au

Marrickville, Fri 24/10 - 12/12,
Marrickville@midnightbasketball.org.au

Orange, Sat 25/10 - 13/12,
Orange@midnightbasketball.org.au

Shepparton, Sat 18/10 - 13/12,
Shepparton@midnightbasketball.org.au (BYE on 6/12)

Tamworth, Sat 25/10 - 13/12,
Tamworth@midnightbasketball.org.au

 

Other tournament community locations include:

Redfern NSW, Woolloomooloo NSW, Kwinana WA, Geraldton WA, Geelong Vic, Auburn, NSW, Port Augusta SA, as well as tournaments starting in the following regions in Term 1 2009: Dubbo, Wellington, Campbelltown, Wagga, Coffs Harbour, Queanbeyan, Bourke, and Adelaide in South Australia in 2009.

NEWS

 

Playing In The Shadows

A film about Midnight Basketball screened on ABC on 16 October.  It was also selected for the 2008 Sydney Film Festival. About a group of players from Midnight Basketball in Woolloomooloo in Sydney, it was produced by Marco Ianniello & Sascha Ettinger Epstein and focuses on some of the players along with coach and workshop facilitator, Bassi, who decided after the Woolloomooloo Midnight Basketball tournament, to setup a game against archi rivals Redfern, held on the Grand Final night of the Redfern Midnight Basketball tournament. While not showing the Midnight Basketball program, it nevertheless captures beautifully the spirit of the community and participants.

From the ABC website:

An after-dark basketball competition targeting young people living in public housing across Sydney is about to take the kids of Woolloomoolloo by storm. Run by the dedicated coach Bassi, an ex-pro basketballer with extensive experience working with difficult kids, this basketball squad is far more than just a sporting event. For the players in the team - 9-year-old Celine, 11-year-old Jaidyn, six-foot-three Jerry and 15-year-old Ainsley - it is a chance to show what they are made of and to prove that they don't fit the commonly held stereotype about kids from Woolloomoolloo. Each one faces challenges but they all have a desire to win. Celine's Mum died on her sixth birthday and her Dad has only one leg, but she's happy living with her many sisters and brothers in the close-knit Woolloomooloo neighbourhood. Eleven-year-old Jaidyn has been going off the rails recently, getting in trouble at school and with the police, but his Mum is sure he'll come through. Six-foot-three Jerry has a disability and is often teased, but he loves being involved with the community. And 15-year-old Ainsley is ambitious and athletic, inspired and motivated by his Dad to achieve entrance to university. Playing in the Shadows is an observational documentary which follows the local kids and their team, The Woolloomooloo All Stars, as they train towards a climactic final showdown against their geographic rivals, the youth from the neighbouring housing estate in Redfern. Cheer on the kids as they struggle to pursue their aspirations while avoiding the dangers and disadvantages of growing up in this little forgotten pocket of public housing.