Marie Costello, Scott Drysdale , Randy Shanklin and Param Singh capped off a great season for Altona by sweeping the Big V Basketball awards. 87552_09 Picture: KRISTIAN SCOTT
By LIAM TWOMEY
IT may be the off-season but that hasn’t stopped the Altona Basketball Club from scoring some serious goals.
The Gators dominated the recent Big V Basketball competition awards night held at the Moonee Valley Race Course with a total of eight winners named across a number of categories.
The result ranked Altona up there with some of the most successful clubs in the league, with the awards aimed to highlight the outstanding efforts of players throughout the season.
Off the court, program co-ordinator Marie Costello was also acknowledged by the Big V for her efforts in successfully organising her small staff to field four competitive senior teams.
Altona’s Randy Shanklin said it was a great result for the club to have performed so well.
He particularly paid credit to Costello, who he said had been doing a brilliant job running the club.
“It probably starts with Marie to be perfectly honest with you,” Shanklin said.
“Her work ethic is unbelievable and she does a lot of that stuff on her own.
“It’s not a large committee we are working with like most clubs so she does a lot of work.
“A lot of the things that we are actually able to do are because of her. That was a great award and I was really proud of her.”
The Altona players may be enjoying a well-deserved rest during the off-season but that hasn’t stopped Shanklin and Costello planning for the future.
While in the short term the goal is to have every team reaching the finals, the long-term plans are on a slightly larger scale.
“We have got Division One at this point. Hopefully the club can move towards playing Championship and ABA Basketball as well,” Shanklin said.
“That is our plan going forward. I can’t say that will be for next year but that is the direction we are heading.
“We would love to be the first team in the west with a championships team playing.
“We are just as competitive off the floor as we are on the floor. We want to be the club that people talk about off the court as well as on it.”
