ONE of the first major sports casualties of the coronavirus pandemic is the Shoalhaven Tigers.
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On Thursday, it was announced by Basketball NSW they will only be administering their senior Waratah League division one men's and women's competitions, as well as their division one (which features Scott Balsar's Illawarra Hawks) and two youth leagues - who will all play a shortened nine-week season
This means Ian Ozolins' division two men's side and Kerrianne Allan's division two women's team will be sidelined in 2020, while the Shoalhaven Basketball Association board decided against nominating Ben Morris' division two youth men's squad for the shortened competition.
"The SBA board decided we need to focus on getting the domestic competition back up and running and gain numbers back," SBA president Maddison Hanlon said.
Basketball NSW's tough decision comes off the back of the NSW Office of Sport's recommendation to only run 'elite' competition this season.
Also tied into it is the lack of time to complete each division's respective season, which has also seen a modified junior scheduled released.
With Waratah Country Junior Leagues (including South Junior League), Barrengarry and the NSW Country Titles being cancelled, Basketball NSW is planning a 'Waratah Country Junior Challenge' weekend, to be held at eight different venues, over four weekends.
At this stage, the under 14s weekend will tip-off on August 21-23, with the boys playing at the Shoalhaven Indoor Sports Centre and the girls Maitland.
Two weeks later (September 4-6), the under 16s will play at Bathurst (boys) and Maitland (girls), before the under 12s hit the court the following weekend at Canberra (boys) and Illawarra (girls).
Finally, the under 18s will run on September 25-27 at Gosford (boys) and Newcastle (girls).
Another disappointing aspect to this decision will see the Waratah League finals weekend, scheduled to be hosted at the new Shoalhaven Indoor Sports Centre in August, have been moved to one of BNSW's venues - largely due to the facility's unknown reopening date and complexity of the COVID-19 situation.
But the Shoalhaven Basketball Association is already in negotiations to host the 2021 finals weekend.