Explaining the NEW Lang Park Basketball Club Inc

Welcome to the new era for Lang Park Basketball Club. I'm hoping to take this opportunity to explain significant recent changes to the Club.

On April 1, 2023, Lang Park Basketball returned to being an independent basketball club. For those who have been around for years, this is back to the future…. similar to how we operated for our first 45 years.

Why have we done this?

PCYC have been transitioning as an organisation and needed to rebrand basketball to align with their new corporate identity. They also needed to improve the overhead pressure associated with basketball administration. This resulted in the agreement late in 2022 between basketball and PCYC to separate basketball from PCYC. This benefits both entities, where basketball retains its iconic Lang Park name and the green and gold colour scheme whilst the administrative burden on PCYC is transferred to Basketball.

Who is Lang Park Basketball Club now?

Effectively we are the same 61 year old Club. Our home court is PCYC Lang Park and we play in the BBI competition. We retain our close relationship with PCYC, but are no longer a sanctioned PCYC activity.

What has changed?

We are a ‘not for profit’ entity with the sole purpose of providing basketball related services for the benefit of our members.

The organisation is an Incorporated Association governed by our Constitution. The Club is now the legal entity, providing a level of protection to individual volunteers within the Club..

We are governed by an elected Management Committee. They are elected by members at the Annual General Meeting. The current interim Management Committee are volunteers who have transitioned from the PCYC Basketball Committee and are up for re-election at the next AGM. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the team, who have moved mountains over the past 12 months, to transition the Club to where we are today.

We have simplified many systems of operation. The most significant change is that we no longer have the duplication of systems between PCYC and Basketball. We are now aligned with the Basketball Australia Polices which are based on the Australian Sports Commission and Sports Integrity. These cascade through Basketball Queensland to Brisbane Basketball and down to Lang Park Basketball as an Affiliated Club of BBI.

PCYC reception no longer can assist you with your queries or uniform orders. We know Kate’s team at PCYC will do everything they can to help, but they don’t have the information nor hold playing shorts stock behind the counter. You must communicate directly with the basketball club through Facebook messenger or our club administrator admin@langparkbasketball.com.au.

You no longer gain automatic PCYC membership as part of your club membership. This only impacts you if you participate in other activities. Similarly those who took advantage of the access to the PCYC gym as part of their volunteer benefits, this is no longer available though the club. This was a significant benefit offered to our volunteers but was only utilised by a very small group. We are working on an alternative that is beneficial to ALL volunteers.

A part time club administrator reduces the admin effort on our volunteers. We find most of our volunteers prefer to be busy on court coaching or coordinating through more player focused roles, so the background administration support is there to reduce the load and to also establish systems of operation for the new club that hopefully future proof club operations as our volunteers transition over the coming years.

Who are our members?

Our Constitution defines this in detail, but effectively every player in the Club is a member. Our senior players are members, our junior players are represented by a parent (who is the member). If you don’t qualify under either of these categories honorary membership can be granted and we also have our Life Members.

Have further questions or would like to get involved?

If you have any questions or would consider joining the Management Committee, please reach out to me directly through president@langparkbasketball.com.au . You don’t need to wait for an AGM to get involved.

The first AGM for the new entity is approaching. This is your opportunity to elect your Management Committee and set the direction for the Club. I know there are a number of the current committee who are looking to transition out after many years of service so am really looking forward to seeing some new faces and it is not about your basketball knowledge.

Watch our Facebook site and our new website Club News feed for updates.

I’m looking forward to seeing what we can create over the next couple of years. In the last 2 years we have increased from 350 members in a Junior Winter season to 700 members for each of Summer and Winter seasons (approximately 1000 member per annum).

I would personally love to see our Senior Club better supported and integrated with our juniors to improve the pathways for our girls and boys into senior competitive and social competitions. For those interested in Seniors, note senior seasons run January to June and July to December, unlike juniors. We are preparing for the Senior Summer season now and want to fill out our U23 men and our GBL Gold and Silver men’s and women’s teams as a minimum, then grow our social teams.

Sorry for the long letter, but this is a very important change. All the best, and welcome to Lang Park Basketball Club Inc.

Regards

Wade Lewis,

President (on behalf of the Management Committee)