Ballarat's two elite basketball teams have abandoned their 2020 season due to the coronavirus.
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Due to compete in the NBL1 competition this year, both the Ballarat Miners and Ballarat Rush will not field a team at all.
The NBL1 south conference season had been put back to at least May 15.
This call was made on Wednesday.
The Miners and Rush had previously been scheduled to start at Ringwood on Saturday, April 18.
In a statement on Thursday, Ballarat Basketball CEO Peter Eddy said it was a difficult decision to make.
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You can read his statement in full below.
"Basketball Ballarat have made the decision that the Hotondo Homes Ballarat Miners and Selkirk Ballarat Rush Teams will not participate in the 2020 NBL1 South Season."
"Basketball Ballarat, with guidance from many key stakeholders including Basketball Victoria, Community Clubs Victoria and other Victorian Basketball Associations, have come to this difficult decision in the best interests of the physical and mental well-being of all athletes, members, supporters, staff, volunteers and match officials during this unprecedented global health pandemic caused by COVID-19.
"Over the upcoming weeks and months, we will be prioritising working extremely closely with our local member clubs, players, officials and families to ensure that we re-establish the sport of basketball within our community from the grass roots level up.
"The NBL1 competition is at the pinnacle of our regional athlete pathway and this difficult decision has already been made by other member Associations to ensure we are all viable for all local club and member programs and competitions immediately when we are through the current emergency.
"We assure you that we are already planning for how to provide the best possible grassroots program for the thousands of junior and senior local players and their families who rely on us to provide the sport that we all love. This will flow back into our elite level senior NBL1 programs from 2021 when we will fully resume our full pathway for all athletes, coaches and officials.
"As a club with a rich heritage spanning generations, we have faced many challenges before and through working together, supporting our members & sponsors, and focussing on remaining viable to get our generations of participants back on court we want to provide confidence that our focus is in the right place.
"Thank you for all your support in the past and looking into the future to continue that support of the game we love."
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