Basketball in the region has taken another body blow, with the Illawarra Seahawks officially folding yesterday.Due to inadequate funding and player numbers, the Seahawks have withdrawn from the Waratah Australian Basketball League's (WABL) 2009 competition.The Illawarra Basketball Association is anything but wealthy and there are no guarantees the Seahawks will be resurrected next year.Former Wollongong Hawks coach Eric Cooks was going to coach the Seahawks this season. Those plans have been scrapped.While the Seahawks are now buried, the Hawks are battling to raise sufficient finances to stay alive.Much of the Seahawks' funding in recent years was provided by the Hawks."It's disappointing to see it come to this, especially with what's going on with the Hawks, and obviously what happened with the Hawks put some spanners in the works," Cooks said."The IMB and ahm said they could put a bit of money towards the Seahawks, but the problem now is that the season starts this weekend and there's not enough time to get it up and running. There's not enough time to get a competitive team together because we've really only got about six guys who were keen."It's hard to say what will happen next year, but hopefully they're able to bounce back and get organised and running for next year."The Seahawks formed in the mid-1980s and played in the South Eastern Basketball League before switching to the WABL."It's pretty disappointing," long-time Hawks captain Mat Campbell said. "The Seahawks have always been a stepping stone to the NBL for Illawarra junior players and that avenue has been closed."