On Wednesday, the state’s governing body confirmed the event which had originally been scheduled for Echuca had been cancelled.
The Jamboree was one of several events put on the backburner due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the under 14s skills day, while representative teams have been withdrawn from several competitions which involves other states.
Echuca Basketball Association president Phil Candy said the official confirmation came as no surprise to him.
“We knew about three months ago we wouldn’t be hosting the event this year – but that was no issue,” he said.
“BVC were thinking of moving the event to a stadium with more courts, for example Ballarat and Bendigo.
“We’ve already got the event locked in for next year so we’re looking forward to welcoming all the players and their families back.
“Every decision we’ve made has been about keeping the community safe and we will continue to do that.”
In a normal year, EBA would have been preparing to host its annual tournament in late September but it is among a long list of events cancelled in the twin towns.
“Our aim is to get the local kids back on the court as soon as possible,” Candy said.
“We’re not sure when that will be because indoor sports still aren’t allowed in Victoria.
“We’ve named our representative coaches so now it’s about putting those teams together.
“We will continue to update our members about what’s next when more announcements are made about community sport.”
Basketball Victoria chief executive Nick Honey said he was disappointed a number of events had to be cancelled after an already difficult year for people involved in the game.
“Due to ongoing uncertainty regarding the return of basketball in Victoria and our continued focus to support associations to provide grassroots opportunities, we have unfortunately had to withdraw teams and cancel a number of representative events for late 2020 and early 2021 on the basketball calendar,” Honey said.“Interstate travel is still uncertain at this stage, which makes the extensive planning needed to operate these elite development tournaments particularly difficult to achieve.“With Victoria still under COVID-19 restrictions, we have to cancel these events and suspend our involvement in others in the interim.”
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