Bomaderry Public School's Little Ballers debut a resounding success

Professional basketball coach and Little Ballers founder Scott Balsar is excited for the future of the program.

BPS's Little Ballers is a fully-inclusive program that teaches participating students the fundamentals of the sport of basketball, along with game-based drills, while at its core being about having fun and building a healthy lifestyle.

"I didn't have huge expectations going in," Balsar said.

"However, to get these kids physically on the basketball court doing motor neurone skills, learning to catch and dribble, building these foundations all while still having fun, was the big success of the program in my eyes."

The response from both kids and their parents was fantastic according to Balsar, and each session was always at least 95 percent full.

"At a minimum we would have 23 to 24 kids in attendance each week," he said.

Throughout the term, several local basketball talents, including Kate and James Speer (who play for the Shoalhaven Tigers) assisted Balsar with the program, bringing their own skillsets and knowledge to the court.

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"They (Kate and James) were basically assistant coaches, at some point during the program, I handed them the reins, and had them put together a program to run with the students," Balsar said.

The overall hope for Balsar is that the students in the program will develop a love for the sport and want to take it further down the line by playing locally.

"The other key outcome out of this program is that we want to feed the kids into the competitions at Shoalhaven Basketball," he said.

"It's all about giving the kids an opportunity to put the skills they've learned to use in proper domestic basketball."

The next iteration of the event will be catered to the littlest of ballers, specifically year one and year two students.

This will be at it's the core the real basic fundamentals such as dribbling and passing, in essence instilling that foundation in them at the earliest age possible.

"The fundamentals is the key to any sport, we have lost our way a little bit in teaching the basics, which is why it's so important here to teach the kids motor neurone and fundamentals of our sport here to help them succeed later in life," Balsar said.

"I'm looking forward to the next semester with the younger kids and seeing the same growth in them over the eight to ten weeks of the program."