Tara Murray
New Wyndham Basketball Association general manager David Drysdale is keen to help the association remain a leader in the sport.
Drysdale started at the association last week, having previously held senior roles at Tennis Tasmania and Tennis Australia, including managing Lleyton and Bec Hewitt.
Drysdale said the potential growth of the association and the area itself was a massive pull for him.
“Basketball is such a popular sport, especially in Victoria… we’ve got more people playing basketball than football these days,” he said.
“The association is doing really well at the moment, with competition numbers and a lot of the programs.
“It’s quite fantastic what they do. You look at the young kids with the Aussie Hoops, it’s one of the top four programs in Australia, for the amount of numbers that they have which is brilliant,
“At the other end of where they operate, player development and the Wyndham way and developing local talent which is fantastic.
“Once I applied and went through the discussions and presentations and realised the enthusiasm, the way everyone wanted to put in to grow and continue to grow, it was really refreshing.”
Drysdale started playing basketball when he was in high school and continued to play when he lived in Tasmania and when he moved back to Melbourne.
He even managed to get Lleyton Hewitt and some other former Australian tennis stars to play alongside him in the over-35s competition.
He has also coached and been an executive of a domestic club.
Drysdale said the growth of the Wyndham area was one of the things that really excited him about the role.
“Having a drive around the area road and seeing what has been planned here is mind boggling,” he said.
“Then looking at the numbers that we have already in the association, it’s really pleasing and many people sit back and say that we are doing a pretty good job.
“We have to ensure that we have plans, programs, and everything and the resources ready to go. We can tap into that and continue to make it even bigger and bigger, come the key to the west, in regards to basketball.
“We’ve got to think ahead and we’ve got to be ahead of the pack. I’m very much about being proactive, not reactive.”
Drysdale said the conversation on where the club heads in the future and the possibility of joining the National Basketball League 1 South competition would be among the topics that would eventually be discussed.
Drysdale said his first role was sitting down with coaches, staff, the board and other stakeholders to ensure they are ready for the growth of the association in the future.
“It’s about putting those bits and pieces together, all working together to make sure we have everything in place the best we can,” he said.
“It’s going to require extra resources, smart with the way we deal with things, evaluating the with the way we approach things.
“We want to appeal to everybody.”
