NATIONAL Basketball League team Melbourne United will have a community camp in Ballarat next month.
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The newly branded United, formerly known as the Melbourne Tigers, will spend five days in the city.
The pre-season visit on August 11-15 will feature a practice match against the Adelaide 36ers at the Minerdome on the last day.
This will be the first all-NBL game in Ballarat since the South Dragons met the Cairns Taipans in 2006.
United will be the fourth national sporting franchise to play in Ballarat in the pre-season in the past year.
Big Bash Cricket League club Melbourne Renegades had a community camp in the city in December and AFL team North Melbourne had its fifth community camp in a row in the city in February.
The Kangaroos also played Carlton in a NAB Challenge match at Eureka Stadium later that month.
A-League team Melbourne City had a practice match at the new Ballarat Community Soccer Facility in Morshead Park last month.
Like its NBL counterpart, Melbourne City has undergone rebranding in the off-season, having previously been Melbourne Heart.
United forward and former Ballarat Miner Lucas Walker labelled the impending camp as “extremely important” for the team’s chances at contesting the NBL title.
“It’s probably the first time we get together as a group and start work on the run to win the championship this year,” Walker said.
“There will be a lot of conditioning, a bit of team bonding, learning offences and just getting together as a group and trying to become comfortable with one-another.”