This association is made up of teams that are engaging South Sudanese Australian youths and other youths from various multicultural backgrounds, with their journey through basketball in Australia. History
The South Sudanese Australian National Basketball tournament was first held in December 2003 in Melbourne, at Footscray City College outdoor court in Footscray. There was a barbeque and an after
-party at Maribyrnong River boat/canoe club. The founder was Manyang G. Berberi. The following were some of the people that played in the first tournament: Manyang G. Berberi, Michael chuti Aput, Morwel Ater, Akoon Puot, Gatlwak G*i, Benjamin Kawac (Melbourne), Late Coach Thomas Ater John Malou(Sydney), Luol and friends (Brisbane) and Jok Abdon Agau and friends, (Canberra). Four teams participated in the first tournament; Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra and Melbourne. The criterion that was adopted was that each state would go back and form their teams made up of players from that particular state. For example If you lived in Hobart Tasmania, you then have to get other players that stay with you in Hobart Tasmania to form a Hobart Tasmanian team. Manyang G. Berberi’s aim and objective was simple. He hoped that these players would continue to get together to play basketball when they went back to their respective cities/suburbs. Basketball would bring them together for recreational and health reasons and at the same time they would develop their talent level in the game. Basketball would also help them integrate into the mainstream Australian community. The players would also look forward to the South Sudanese Australian National Basketball Tournament at the end of every year. Longhorns Basketball Club (Melbourne) won the first inaugural tournament in December 2003. The tournament was not held in 2004 and 2005 because there were not enough financial resources to hold the tournament. It was also a time that state teams used to develop their teams. The 2006 tournament was held in partnership with the South Sudanese National Youth Conference that had enough resources through the support of community organizations and Melbourne University. The tournament was held in December at Melbourne University and the Organizer Manyang G. Berberi, had lobbied the youth conference organizers to try to bring Manute Bol (Former NBA star) as a guest of honor for the conference as he is a great role model for young people in the community. Nyuol Madut was one of the youth conference committee members and happened to be Manute Bol’s cousin. Manute Bol was then contacted through him and flown down for the Tournament. This turned out to be great for both the tournament and the youth conference. The tournament was won by Sydney led by current NBA star Ater Majok of the LA Lakers and Mathiang Mou of NCAA top ten ranked North Eastern University. The South Sudanese youth from Brisbane wanted to host the youth conference in December 2007. The basketball tournament was supposed to be held in partnership with the youth conference that year but half way through the year, the Brisbane youth said they did not have enough resources to host the youth conference. The Youth conference and the South Sudanese Australian National Basketball Tournament were then not held that year as a result of that. In June 2008, Manyang G. Berberi drafted a document that said that the Tournament would have its own committee that would be in charge of hosting the tournament every year in different states. Each state would have to bid for the tournament and show enough experience to host the tournament to avoid disappointment that happened in the previous year when it was not held. The 2008 tournament was successfully held in Melbourne and it was a huge success. Basketball Victoria and other community organizations supported the tournament. 14 teams participated in the tournament. Some of the teams that participated were: Dragons girls (Melbourne), Longhorns (Melbourne west), New stars (Melbourne south- east), SAB (Canberra), Warriors (Adelaide), Stars recreational basketball (Sydney), Nadus (new castle), Lions (Brisbane). The 2008 interstate tournament was won by Brisbane in a hardly contested march against Newcastle. In February 2009, all the state team managers met in Sydney and it was decided that Sydney would host the 2009 tournament. Berberi also proposed the formation of the South Sudanese Australian National Basketball Association as a body that all the team managers from the different states can unite under. This idea was endorsed by the other team mangers. It was also agreed that a state would only host the tournament if they managed to convince the other state team managers that they had the capability to host the tournament. This came about as a result of the huge success of the 2008 tournament which was the first major tournament that was done purely for basketball reasons. The team managers were convinced that this was an opportunity that they didn’t want to let go and therefore agreed that it was vital that the tournament be an annual event without failure. The 2009 tournament in Sydney was held in Penrith Basketball Stadium. There was an increase in the number of teams from 14 in the previous year to 24 teams. It was in Sydney that media presence at the tournament was noticed and there had been great improvement in the overall performance of the teams. Mayor Chagai was the tournament organizer in Sydney. Longhorns Basketball club won the 2009 tournament against Sydney. The following teams and team managers were present:
Aciek (Adelaide), Garang Kuer Bul (SAB-Canberra), Coach Joe and Nyuon Makuei(New Stars Melbourne), Manyang Berberi(Longhorns-Melbourne), Victor Ngath, Akolde and Coach Ater(Nadus-New castle), Andy Kenyi, Acouth John, Mayor cagai( sydney), Akech Manyiel( Wild Beast juniors athletic training-Melbourne), and Piok(Toowoomba), Johnson Malual Aleer( Brisbane) Coach Wayne and Zack Mayuen (Perth). In April 2010 during Easter holiday, all the National team managers met in Melbourne at Flemington hotel to organize how to award hosting rights for 2010 tournament. The South Sudanese Australian National Basketball Association decided that their committee would be headed automatically by the state that won the bid to host the tournament. The bid saw Sydney win to host the tournament twice in a row with their promise to improve the quality of the tournament and to get more help from Basketball Australia and other community organizations. The 2010 tournament was back to Sydney and there was great improvement. The number of teams that participated had climbed to 30. There was the emergence of new teams such as: Toowoomba under18 boys, Armidale, and girl’s teams were not just from Sydney and Melbourne but four cities. The 2010 tournament was a great success. Newcastle (Nadus) won against favorite to win Perth (Rhinos). S.S.A.N.B.A awarded the hosting rights to Melbourne for The 2011 tournament and it is expected that the number of teams participating will increase and the level of performance will be amazing. The great history continues every year with the tournament getting bigger, more competitive and there is always a great improvement in the talent level of the basketball players participating in the tournament. The tournament will be held every year for years to come and it should help with integration and creating of pathways for young basketball talent. It should also help in the development of basketball in Australia.
