What it's like to take a 4-year-old to an Illawarra Hawks home game

From atmosphere, sensory issues, to ticket prices and what food is on offer, here is all you need to know if you're thinking of making an NBL game a family adventure.

I'm not a mad basketball fan (neither is my husband), and cannot recite which team is where on the ladder, but I do enjoy all the fanfare associated with it - it's fun.

At a Hawks home-game, most people start filing into the WIN Entertainment Centre (corner of Harbour and Crown Streets) within 20-minutes of tip off (the start of the game when the ball is thrown in the air).

If you do need to take a pram, there is an allocated space to park them in the foyer prior to heading into the stadium and finding your seat (ask at the box office if you're unsure).

Pre-game entertainment includes Tomohawk (the giant mascot) wandering around hugging and high-fiving fans, along with the Hawks dance squad (which does include men) to get the crowd excited before the teams enter the court.

Tomohawk gave our little Miss G a hug, scoring a best friend for life. All throughout the experience, Miss G's eyes lit up when she spotted the giant hawk-man roaming around through the crowd.

Parking around Wollongong CBD can be tight, but we arrived with 40 minutes to spare and scored what I call a "rock star" parking spot around the corner near Chicko's, on Crown Street.

There is paid parking at WIN Stadium (Opposite the Sage Hotel), entry via Stewart Street and Harbour Streets. Pay and display parking operates Monday - Friday (free after 4.30pm and on weekends). Special event parking rates also apply on event days.

Wollongong train station is a 10 to 15 minute walk from the venue. Some local buses stop and pick up from the Harbour Street side of the venue.

I noticed quite a few basketball fans in wheelchairs enjoying the game, and the venue does have several accessible toilets too.

Expect an NBL basketball game to be loud, very loud.

There are particular songs played throughout, there is the "defence" fanfare and associated chanting, there are also many mentions of cheeseburgers (if the away team misses two consecutive free shots in a single penalty, ticketholders are entitled to a free burger from sponsor Hungry Jacks).

On this occasion the NZ Breakers weren't missing many shots at all.

The game is also brightly lit as firstly players need to see what they're doing, and secondly it's recorded for television.

We packed headphones, sunglasses, a lollipop and a favourite toy for Miss G in case she became too overwhelmed (which were needed at times).

The game started at 2pm, perfect for Miss G who is normally in bed by 8pm. We were on the way home by 4.30pm.

This season there are two home games left - Illawarra Hawks vs Brisbane Bullets at 5.30pm Saturday February 3 and the Illawarra Hawks vs Perth Wildcats at 7.30pm Thursday February 15.

The game is played in four quarters, with half-time entertainment.

If your child gets bored easily, make use of the breaks between quarters to walk around, use the toilet, have a look at merchandise, ready to get back to your seats to watch the game.

Miss G told us she was getting "bored" halfway through the fourth quarter, but the physical game became a lot more exciting - a nail-biting finish between the two teams which really excited our child and got her back into the spirit.

In the last eight minutes she was sitting on my husband's shoulders, fist-pumping the air and cheering like the rest of us for each basket scored.

Ticket prices range from $15 for juniors (ages 4 to 16), $20 for concession and $25 for adults.

Kids aged three and under are free, though they are required to sit on the lap of a parent or carer.

On this occasion we had the best seats in the house, on the floor (although Miss G asked if we could sit up the back).

After being moved a couple of times for sitting in the wrong seats (the number system was confusing), we eventually found the correct ones which were right near the Hawks bench (where players sit and watch, waiting to swap in for another player).

At one point, key player Gary Clark for the Hawks gave Miss G a fist-pump which greatly excited her little face.

There are bag searches on arrival, and patrons are not supposed to bring in food and drink.

We did have an empty drink bottle for Miss G which we filled with water, and some muesli bars as snacks (our child gets incredibly hangry if she doesn't eat and we cannot go anywhere without food).

Pricing of the food wasn't too expensive for an entertainment venue. It was $5.80 for a small bucket of chips - although the 600ml Cokes were on the pricey side at $5.90 each. Two cokes and a small chips cost $17.60.

If you're wanting to save money you could have a picnic by City Beach or at nearby Lang's Park before the game, or head to a local cafe.

WIN Entertainment Centre serves a small selection of hot fried food, popcorn, packets of crisps, soft drinks, juices and alcohol.

We ended up buying two Hawks hats - one for husband and one for Miss G - which were very stylish in black with the silver Hawk logo.

Hats were $30 each, but there were also an array of t-shirts for $20, a "back-to-school" pack for $50 (which included a backpack, drink bottle, sports towel and USB powerbank), and Hawks basketballs for $30 and $60.

Miss G asked how much the basketballs were and said "next time I'm going to buy one with my own money", and promptly counted her cash once we got home.

I've been to a lot of sporting events in my time - from AFL games in various states, NRL, the Australian Open tennis tournament, the Formula One Grand Prix, local footy matches, A-League, cricket T-20 games and even an Ultimate Frisbee championships.

The NBL definitely has a family-friendly atmosphere, and a lot going on to keep little ones with short attention spans engaged.

It was a great afternoon, our daughter handled the sensory issues well and really enjoyed it, as did we.

Even if the Hawks didn't win 89-85 against the New Zealand Breakers, we still would have left smiling anyway.

The Tomohawk mascot was a big hit. Seeing an array of other kids in the crowd was also good too for Miss G to feel like she belonged.