PRESIDENT'S REPORT

Hello & welcome to the 2024 Exies-Acmy Annual General Meeting.

I would like to formally welcome our Life Members, Executive & General Committee Members, Sponsors, Coaches, Members, Families & Guests.

We look back fondly at the achievements of our members & volunteers over the last 12 months.

Participation numbers continue to rise year on year which is fantastic. For the 2024 Championship Season we had 53 Teams, increasing to 56 Teams (with a total of 432 Players) for the 2023-2024 Summer Season. In our senior grades we 7 senior teams in the 2024 Championship Season, increasing to 10 teams for the 2024-2025 Summer Season.

We had 33 Exies-Acmy junior players selected in the local representative JET program which is a terrific achievement. It has also been exciting to follow both Georgia & Jemma Amoore on their College basketball journey in the USA, and while not in the 2024 calendar year, the recent achievement of Georgia being selected by the Washington Mystics as pick number 6 in the recent WNBA draft was incredible. We wish her all the very best in her recovery from her unfortunate ACL injury & know she will come back better than ever. 

The Ballarat Junior Tournament was held in June 2024 and we had 52 players across 6 Exies-Acmy teams enter & compete over the long weekend. As with previous years, this tournament has been a terrific opportunity for kids who mostly haven’t previously had a ‘tournament experience’ to come together and play against different clubs & associations. 

Our committee of volunteers continues to evolve and this year we had Jane Miller & Lexie Caldwell step down from their respective roles. Jane stayed on with the club for a number of years beyond her kids playing and have been a strong ambassador for the girl’s program. She has also been an incredible help with the annual Christmas party! Lexie continues to be involved in supporting her girls playing including currently coaching. We thank both Jane & Lexie for their contributions to the Match Committee over a number of years.

As we have done in previous years, we had our Christmas party at Lake Wendouree Football Club in December, 2024.  This year we had close to 350 members attend, spread across all age groups who enjoyed the jumping castles, activities as well as a surprise visit from both Santa & the Elf on a Shelf. We thank the Lake Wendouree Football / Netball Club for hosting us again and a massive thank you to our committee including parent helpers for pulling it all together & for the fourth year running a massive thank you to Jane & the Eclectic Tastes team for co-ordinating the food for us to enjoy.

Overall, participation is increasing season on season, which is a great position to be in. It does however raise challenges that need to be managed including limited available for training courts, more workload on committees, and a heavier reliance on parent helpers / volunteers to coach & team manage. This has meant being adaptive with training structures that in a number of cases has 3 or more teams on the court at once, as well as supporting different models of parent help to ensure all roles are covered.



I would like to thank Nev, Joel, Shawn, Zack, Ethan, Fletcher & Shian from Ballarat Basketball for their support of our club & the growth of the sport. We enjoy our working relationship and look forward to continue to find outcomes to support the growth of the game. I would also like to challenge the association to explore ways to support all domestic clubs further, noting the ever-increasing workload on club volunteers. 

As this is my final year as President, a few final thank you’ s …

To our dedicated coaches & team managers. I can’t thank you enough for your commitment to both club & kids. Life is busy these days and it is hard to make time, but seeing the joy that the kids have by simply turning up to play, while developing their skills & forming friendships makes it all worthwhile. Keep volunteering to help where you can. An extra set of hands is always a help.

To the kids, keep being the best version of your amazing unique selves. Sport has an incredible way of teaching life lessons, and many of those are beyond winning & losing. Always be a champion on & off the court & I hope you continue to enjoy the great game of basketball for many years to come.

To the Executive Committee, I can’t thank you enough for your support & friendship. It has been a pleasure working alongside you, doing whatever needs to be done to help the kids. You should all be very proud of your achievements.

Lastly, a huge thank you to the life members, committees’ past & present and members of Exies-Acmy Basketball Club for the privilege to be involved and contribute in a very small way to the continued success of the club. Exies-Acmy was always a club I respected as a junior player, and has been fantastic for my family both on and off the court. There have been many friendships formed and many journeys started. I wish the club & members every success moving forward. Thank you!