THE Coast 2 Coast Seaside Classic basketball carnival has been hailed a huge success by event organisers John Minihan and Debbie Burghardt.
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It is the first time the annual event has been held at the new Port Macquarie Indoor Stadium and it made organisation and the running of several games at once a breeze.
“Being at the one venue has been a much smoother transition this year. Our team numbers came down a little bit, but being at the new venue it has made it so much easier to organise,” Mrs Burghardt said.
“The new indoor stadium has been a blessing for us and enables us to put our hand up and apply for larger events.”
Mr Minihan applauded the skills of all teams who competed.
“This was the first time we had ran six courts all at the one venue. They all finished on time and the day went really well,” he said, speaking on Sunday as the final day was played.
“As far as the Port Macquarie teams were concerned, the under 11s men made it to the grand final against Hornsby, the 13s women finished second spot, the 15s men made it to the semi final, the 15s women lost a couple of key players but finished in second and will go into a play off while the 17s men finished first and will play in the final against Newcastle Lakers.”
Grand finals were played late on Sunday afternoon.
Mr Minihan said Port Macquarie teams were well represented against some tough opponents.
“There’s a team from Newington College from Sydney, and their 17s men team have performed strongly,” he said.
“As usual, the Coffs Harbour and Bellingen teams have performed really well.”
The Seaside Classic was designed to be a development carnival for players recently selected for higher honours.
“It’s a chance for those rep teams that were selected a couple of weeks ago to have a run against reputable teams and for coaches to get a feel of how the rep team works,” he said.
“The games have been good quality, the refereeing has been great and this environment sets everyone up for the rep season, which starts in February until July.”