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Basketball Queensland Award Winners 2019
The Annual Basketball Queensland Awards are an opportunity to congratulate and celebrate the outstanding, high performing members of the Queensland basketball community, from players, officials, and coaches, through to administrators and associations during the previous year.
Due to the unprecedented outcomes of COVID-19, Basketball Queensland made the difficult decision to cancel this year’s awards ceremony and instead recognise our award winners across social media and our website. Please join us in congratulating our outstanding award winners.
2019 Association of the Year – Gold Coast City Regional Basketball Association
The 2019 Association of the Year has been awarded to Gold Coast Basketball, for the second year in a row.
Celebrating 60 Years as an association, Gold Coast Basketball focused on many vital directions including improving overall performance in junior and senior competitions and as of 2019 is proud to be the only association that has an intellectually Disabled (Allstarz) and Wheelchair basketball programme (Rollerblaze) now under its banner.
Gold Coast Basketball’s efforts on the floor are highlighted by the magnificent effort form the under 14 girls Waves team who won Bronze at the Australian Club Championships, defending their recent Gold national title from the year before. Strength in performance was also demonstrated through the associations first BQJBC overall title as well as the best QBL season for the association in 20 years, with both teams making the Grand Final. All overseen by Pero Cameron, newly appointed national Men’s coach for New Zealand.
Off the court is where everyone stepped up, the staff, Board and key volunteers worked together, resulting in association growth, and personal growth. Their administration became streamlined, leadership empowering all members, including our volunteers, innovation to embrace new technologies and strategically diversifying income streams to ensure the longevity and diversity of their association for many years to come.
2019 Male Player of the Year – Tamuri Wigness
The 2019 Male Player of the Year has been awarded to Tamuri Wigness
In 2019 Tamuri went from strength to strength as a player as the NBA Global Academy scholarship holder gained international recognition at the 2019 Basketball Without Borders Global Camp when named in the All-Tournament Team.
Despite an early season injury which prevented him from representing the Under 18 Queensland North State Team at the Australian Junior Championships in April, the Cairns Basketball product led the Australian Crocs to a five-game sweep to claim the 2019 Under 17 FIBA Oceania Championship and make the Championship All-Star Five team.
To top it off, Tamuri also represented the Australian Emus at the 2019 Under 19 FIBA World Cup as a double bottom-aged player, averaging 7.6 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game and featured with the Brisbane Bullets in their preseason Blitz campaign.
2019 Female Player of the Year – Alexandra Fowler
The 2019 Female Player of the Year has been awarded to Alexandra Fowler.
Alex started the year as a Development Player for the Townsville Fire and through strong performances at training forced the coaches to play her in regular season games in the WNBL. She represented the Under 20 Queensland State Team in the National Championships in Canberra averaging 10 points and 7 rebounds a game.
It was in July 2019; however, that her game went to another level representing the Australian Gems at the Under 19 FIBA World Cup where Alex led the team to a Silver Medal and was selected in the All-Star 5 for the tournament.
Alex juggled all her international commitments around her completion of high school studies and starring for the semi-finalist Townsville Flames in the QBL. To crown off her achievements in 2019 Alexandra was offered and accepted a scholarship to the Portland Pilots in the NCAA Division 1 and has already begun dominating her opposition in the United States system. Alex was also named Townsville Basketball’s Junior Female Player of the Year for the third year in a row in 2019.
2019 Administrator of the Year: Michael Scott (Cairns Basketball)
The 2019 Administrator of the Year has been awarded to Cairns Basketball’s Michael Scott. Mike is an integral part of the Cairns Basketball community and as General Manager has been instrumental in driving the dramatic improvement in the Association’s finances.
Mike’s management of the association has led to growth across all levels of the Association and in his capacity as general manager he has ensured that Cairns Basketball continues to be a profitable and progressive organisation with an overarching goal to exceed expectations of their members across all areas of the operation.
2019 Female Coach of the Year: Jackie Brown
The 2019 Female Coach of the Year has been awarded to Jackie Brown. The former elite WNBL player has thrived as a coach, leading the Under 18 Women’s Queensland South State Team to a silver medal at the 2019 Australian Junior Championships in her first year as Head Coach.
Jackie furthered her development as a coach by accepting an invitation to the Australian Development Camp at the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence and selected as an Assistant Coach for the Australian Under 17 Women’s Team that went on to win the gold medal at the 2019 FIBA Under 17 Women’s Oceania Championship.
Jackie continues to assist youth development by coaching at Association level (with North Gold Coast Seahawks in 2019) and is instrumental in inspiring and empowering female coaches, hosting a Basketball Queensland women’s only club coaching course to encourage more women in the game.
2019 Male Coach of the Year: Sam MacKinnon
The 2019 Male Coach of the Year has been awarded to Sam MacKinnon.
Sam is a players’ coach, able to secure buy in through role clarity and acceptance in line with a clear team vision.
He has a decorated history in the game and it is that extensive experience as a professional player coupled with his desire to continually improve his coaching practice that is advantaging him to successfully transition to a senior head coaching role.
He understands the hard work that players and teams need to put in to get the results they want, a philosophy that helped him guide the Brisbane Capitals through a dominant 2019 QBL Men’s season to claim the Championship.
2019 Male Official of the Year – Alex McEwan
The 2019 Male Official of the Year has been awarded to Alex McEwan.
Alex had a phenomenal 2019 on the court leading to his selection on the QBL Finals referee panel and officiating the 2019 QBL Men’s final. He was also a part of the WNBL Referee Panel and made his debut in the NBL in December.
Alex has made significant contributions to referee development in Queensland having fulfilled numerous State Championship Referee Commissioner positions over the past six years. He has also contributed through his roles as:
- QBL referee development program mentor in the Referee acceleration Program
- BQJBC referee coach; and
- SBL Referee coach 2018-19
2019 Female Official of the Year – Pauline Kelly
The 2019 Female Official of the Year has been awarded to Pauline Kelly.
Pauline has made significant contributions to referee development in Central Queensland and across the state more broadly over many years.
Pauline’s selfless dedication to the development of referees has led to her appointments as Referee Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner for Junior State Championships for the past five years.
She has been a referee coach in the QBL for many years and has been instrumental in the formation and continuation of the Central Queensland Referee Academy which develops aspiring young referees within Central Queensland.
She has been a mentor Referee Coach for most, if not all, the Referee Coaches in Central Queensland often travelling many kilometres to fulfil this role as a volunteer.
2019 Vince Hickey Awards – Cairns Basketball
Basketball Queensland congratulates Cairns Basketball on winning the Vince Hickey Award for Champion Association in the 2019 State Championships. It’s Cairns’ third Vince Hickey Award in total and they have now won three of the last four years. Cairns narrowly scraped home with one point separating them from second-placed Townsville after strong performances in the U14 Boys and U12 Girls winning Gold in both tournaments.
Last year’s champions Townsville finished one-point short of Cairns with their best performance coming early winning Gold in the U18 Girls on the Gold Coast. They also finished runners-up in the U18 Boys and fourth in the U16 Boys and U14 Boys. Southern Districts finished third for the second year running with consistent results across the board. Their best performance came in the U12 Boys at Ipswich with Gold in that event and they also collected Silver in the U14 Boys in Townsville.
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