Basketball boom in Sunshine Coast to help realise Olympic and Paralympic dreams
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Sport
24 Jul 2024
3 mins
Basketball is booming in Queensland, with participation numbers growing by 79% from 2020 – 2023.
Now, the Sunshine Coast is set to benefit from the sport’s incredible growth, with a new 11-court indoor sports centre expected to be ready for community, club and representative basketball players by 2027.
For Sunshine Coast Phoenix star, Kobe McDowell-White, who plays in the semi-professional NBL1 league, the new Sunshine Coast Indoor Sports Centre will become the new training base for his Olympic dream.
Sunshine Coast Phoenix athlete Kobe McDowell-White
The surname McDowell-White is synonymous with sporting success, with Kobe’s brother William playing for the New Zealand Breakers in the National Basketball League (NBL) and helping the Australian Boomers win gold at the 2022 FIBA Asia Cup. Kobe’s sister Jessica plays for the Townsville Fire in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL), while sister Hayley has also represented Queensland in state tournaments. After a stint of college basketball in the US, his brother Darryl “DJ” McDowell-White switched his focus to AFL and was drafted by the Brisbane Lions in 2022, following in their father’s footsteps, after the elder Darryl White won three AFL Premierships with the Brisbane Lions and was named in AFL’s Indigenous Team of the Century in 2005.
Having already represented Australia in junior teams and squads, 20-year-old Kobe dreams of pulling on a Boomers jersey in 2032 and having the opportunity to play at the Olympic Games in front of a home crowd.
“2032, in eight years, that’s probably when I’ll be trying to peak at my level of basketball, so hopefully I can make the Australian team, that’s always the goal as a player,” the Maroochydore local said.
“To represent your country alone is pretty special, but then to play in your own backyard, with your family and friends everywhere, that’s the pinnacle of what you want to do.”
Render of the new Sunshine Coast Indoor Sports Centre
For as long as he can remember, Kobe has spent most weekday evenings and weekends travelling around to various courts in the region for training, games and coaching basketball. He says having 11 new basketball courts by 2027 is exciting for him, and the next generation.
“Our main facility is in Maroochydore, but basketball is growing so much on the Coast, so we need to train at schools and other venues. We have to use all the facilities that we can because the sport is growing and the main [facility] isn’t always available to us,” he said.
“To have a home base will be really exciting… to get comfortable with all the facilities, all the equipment. You feel good being able to come back to the same facility all the time.”
With 11 new basketball courts in a fully accessible sports complex, the new Sunshine Coast Indoor Sports Centre at the Kawana Sports Precinct will also be a game-changer for the wheelchair basketball community.
Paralympic silver and bronze medallist and president of the Sunshine Coast’s wheelchair basketball club, Dr Bridie Kean, said this new facility “will change lives.”
“It's hard to put in words what it will mean for the Suncoast Spinners,” she said.
Dr Bridie Kean
“Our kids club is a wheelchair basketball program on a Wednesday night and for those children who come from all around the Sunshine Coast, it's likely their only opportunity to participate in team sport that week.
“I get excited about what the Olympic and Paralympic Games means for all kids on the Coast, but for those children that have a disability and have one opportunity to play team sport, to have a legacy venue that's going to enable us to provide more inclusive sports for kids with a disability is going to change their lives.”
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Bridie Kean playing wheelchair basketball at the London 2012 Paralympics. Credit: Paralympics Australia
Growing up in Victoria in a sporty family, Bridie started her basketball career playing stand-up basketball at school and for a local club, but admits “it was a struggle to compete because of my disability.”
She was first introduced to wheelchair basketball when she saw the Australian Gliders win silver at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games.
“My parents used to have to drive me one hour to go and play wheelchair basketball, whereas my siblings all participated in local clubs that were five, ten minutes away,” she recalls.
“So the barriers are so much higher for kids with a disability to access sport.
“Venues like [the Sunshine Coast Indoor Sports Centre] will take away those barriers, as it should be, so they will have the same opportunities as their peers to go to sport after school.”
The new Sunshine Coast Indoor Sports Centre is just one of the sporting infrastructure upgrades coming to the region over the next few years. Explore what’s in store for the Sunshine Coast.
Images courtesy of
Sunshine Coast Council, unless otherwise stated
Sport
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