After a 20-month hiatus, the Wollongong Roller Hawks are back and ready to roll for their 20th anniversary season.
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The region's much loved wheelchair basketball club will return to the court after a COVID-induced lay-off delayed their aspirations of winning their fourth consecutive National Wheelchair Basketball League championship last year.
While disappointed at the loss of last season due to the pandemic, Roller Hawks president Geoff Adams said the club was excited to be back, especially given the Roller Hawks will host the opening round of the NWBL in a special gala weekend on May 28-30 at the Shellharbour City Stadium.
"Everybody involved with the club are volunteers and so with the logistics of a national competition a lot of work goes into it," Adams said.
"All the work we do is to keep the guys on the court and we just need people to come out and support them. I've never met anyone who came to a game and didn't enjoy it and we'd love for people to come out and support us for the opening round."
The round one clashes at Shellharbour will see nine games in three days between the teams representing Perth, Sydney and Brisbane.
This year the under 23 Australian Spinners have been added to the national league and will feature the Roller Hawks' own young gun Jarrod Emeny. The Roller Hawks will be attempting to become the only other team outside the Perth Wheelcats to win four titles straight.
In an exciting development for the Roller Hawks this season, they will boast the return of former club junior and four-time Paralympian Tristan Knowles from Melbourne.
"He's a world class player, one of the best players in the country and one of the best we've produced," Adams said.
The club, formed in 2001, will celebrate its rich history with a gala dinner later in the year.
"About three or four years ago we had a significant turnover of people on the committee and at one point found ourselves in a bit financial strife for a while," Adams said.
"We had to rally to help save the club, have a sponsorship drive to attract more sponsors and do more fundraising. We're the only regional club in the national competition and we overachieve in terms of the players we develop and what we achieve as a club."
Adams urged anyone who had been associated with the club to make contact via the club's Facebook page or website to be invited to the dinner later in the year.
"Once a Roller Hawk, always a Roller Hawk," he said.
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Julian O'Brien
Editor of the Illawarra Mercury and former editor of The Advocate (North-West Tasmania). Journalism is simply about telling good stories well and we do so now across a broader platform than ever before. Our role as a regional masthead is to not only share the stories our readers care about but to be a passionate torch bearers for community at every opportunity. We are stronger together.
Editor of the Illawarra Mercury and former editor of The Advocate (North-West Tasmania). Journalism is simply about telling good stories well and we do so now across a broader platform than ever before. Our role as a regional masthead is to not only share the stories our readers care about but to be a passionate torch bearers for community at every opportunity. We are stronger together.
