It was good to represent Ballarat as a Sports Physiotherapist at the National Basketball tournament being hosted here in Ballarat
Practicing at Ballarat Sports Medicine, Titled APA Sports and Exercise Physiotherapist and experienced Basketball Physiotherapist Luke Blunden recently represented Victoria again at the under 20 and Ivor Burge National Basketball Championships to support the Victorian Women Navy basketball team as their team Physiotherapist.
The Foot Locker national under 20 basketball tournament was held in Ballarat from 28th January to the 4th of February this year with elite state teams from over the country competing. The Victorian women’s team was one of six strong Victorian teams across the tournament.
The Victorian women’s navy team was coached by Victorian high performance head coach, Olympic bronze medallist and previous opals captain Jenna O’Hea and assisted by Victorian Country high performance coach Zoe Carr.
The basketball tournament environment is an involved process for a team Physiotherapist. Luke has supported Basketball from the local grass roots level to elite competition for many years and understands the game of basketball and what is required from game to game in a tournament environment, or from week to week in season.
This year there were many learning experiences with challenges motivating and preparing players in hot conditions with high fatigue in a high pressure elite competition environment. There was also opportunity to learn from elite coaches and team support staff from across Victoria and Australia. ‘It was good to represent Sports Physiotherapy in Ballarat at the National tournament being hosted here in Ballarat and it was certainly an advantage to have the Sports Physicians practicing at Ballarat Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic surgeons practicing at BallaratOSM to liaise with for optimal player injury management.’
Victorian teams were very successful at the tournament with four of the six VIC teams taking the four gold medals on offer. Games can be viewed on Kommunity TV.
Luke looks forward to his next elite Basketball Physiotherapy challenge.
