St George Basketball<\/a>,\u201d General Manager Valerie Stoddaart said. \u201cOur community is strong and our players continue to thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/9-683x1024.webp.webp\")
Ross Aliferis best Defensive Player, Men\u2019s White team presented by Sam Stratikopoulos, Deputy Mayor of Georges River Council.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/4-2-683x1024.webp.webp\")
Ray Barbi President of SGBA presenting Luther Shannon the Senior Coach of the Year award.<\/p>\n
Life membership awarded<\/p>\n
One of the evening\u2019s highlights was the awarding of Life Membership to Con Angelis, the Association\u2019s Vice President, who has served for more than 15 years in coaching, leadership, and administration roles.<\/p>\n
\u201cCon\u2019s contribution has been critical to the sustainability of St George Basketball,\u201d President Ray Barbi said. \u201cHis involvement of St George Basketball has left a lasting legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/6-1024x683.webp.webp\")
Ray Barbi President of SGBA with Sam Stratikopoulos Deputy Mayor of Georges River Council, Con Angelis Vice President of SGBA and Ash Ambihaipahar, MP, Federal Member for Barton.<\/p>\n
Recognising coaches<\/p>\n
The Association also paid tribute to its senior coaches and managers:<\/p>\n
James Needle (Head Coach) & Kem Pobje (Assistant) \u2013 Waratah Youth League Women<\/p>\n
James Gunaidi (Head Coach) & Apostolos Thanos (Assistant) \u2013 Waratah Youth League Men White<\/p>\n
George Aliferis (Head Coach), Chris Fiddler (Assistant) & Tony Trikilis (Manager) \u2013 Waratah Men White<\/p>\n
Joel Kimber (Head Coach) \u2013 Waratah Men Red<\/p>\n
Luthor Shannon (Head Coach), Edward Smith & Angelot Tsitsos (Assistants), Esther Shannon (Manager) \u2013 Waratah Youth League Red<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/7-1024x683.webp.webp\")
Youth league Men\u2019s team, Angelo Tsitsos, Assistant Coach with players and assistant coach Ed Smith and Head Coach Luther Shannon.<\/p>\n
2025 Senior Presentation Award Winners<\/p>\n
Waratah Youth Women: Best Defensive \u2013 Nika Pobje; Most Improved \u2013 Madeleine Zoumpoulis; MVP \u2013 Lena Kahle<\/p>\n
Waratah Youth Men White: Best Defensive \u2013 Adonis Thanos; Most Improved \u2013 Archie Fasch; MVP \u2013 Andrew Kim<\/p>\n
Waratah Men White: Best Defensive \u2013 Ross Aliferis; Players\u2019 Player \u2013 Riley Brown; MVP \u2013 Jayden Tanevski<\/p>\n
Waratah Men Red: Best Defensive \u2013 Hayden Serrao; Players\u2019 Player \u2013 Finn McDonagh; MVP \u2013 Blake Borgia<\/p>\n
Waratah Youth Men Red: Most Improved \u2013 Luis Nunez; Players\u2019 Player \u2013 Mason Nichols; MVP \u2013 Maper Makur<\/p>\n
Special Awards:<\/p>\n
Ray Barbi Coach of the Year (Senior) \u2013 Luthor Shannon<\/p>\n
Valerie Stoddart Association Player of the Year (Senior Men) \u2013 Jaxon Jon Frintzilas<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/5-1024x683.webp.webp\")
Awards to Men\u2019s White team, Riley Brown Players player, Ross Aliferis Best Defensive player and Jayden Tanevski MVP.<\/p>\n
Backed by sponsors<\/p>\n
The Association gave thanks to the sponsors and supporters who underpin its growth.<\/p>\n
Platinum Sponsor: City Ford Rockdale<\/p>\n
Diamond Sponsor: Club Rivers<\/p>\n
Silver Sponsors: Club Central, St George Leagues Club<\/p>\n
Bronze Sponsors: Paramount Tours, Owl Watch Securities, Marvel Skip Bins<\/p>\n
Social Sponsors: Sports in Focus, First Education, Easy Signs, St George Masos, Pancakes on the Rocks<\/p>\n
Club Sponsors: Spizvac Marketing, Paramount Tours, Queens Street Patisseries<\/p>\n
Senior Player Sponsors: Wellness Department (Christian Ishak), JAS Transport (Yianni Trikilis), Tilt Splicing (Chris Fiddler), Oceana Sea Products (Ilan Stern), Chullora Auto Body (Jack Ticic), Athletes Lab (Jayden Tanevski), Valsamis & Associates (Ross Aliferis), Anson Hoops (Anson Wen), DSS Facilities (Jaxon Jon Frintzilas), Point Underwriting (Talia Allouche), Brain Sells (Isabella Needle)<\/p>\n
Community Partners: Blakehurst High School, PCYC Rockdale, Dementia Australia<\/p>\n
Media Partners: The St George Leader, The Greek Herald<\/p>\n
Treasurer George Aliferis said: \u201cOur sponsors are not just financial supporters; they are partners in our vision. They are part of the fabric of St George Basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/8-1024x683.webp.webp\")
George Aliferis Treasurer presenting Platinum Sponsors City Ford Rockdale, Jason Gerungan, Dealer Principal and Reid Zammit Sales Manager.<\/p>\n
Board recognition<\/p>\n
The Association also acknowledged the hard work of its board members, who continue to drive growth and development:<\/p>\n
Ray Barbi \u2013 President<\/p>\n
Con Angelis \u2013 Vice President<\/p>\n
George Aliferis \u2013 Treasurer<\/p>\n
Valerie Stoddart \u2013 General Manager<\/p>\n
Luthor Shannon \u2013 Board Member<\/p>\n
Phillip Towers \u2013 Board Member<\/p>\n
Looking ahead<\/p>\n
With representative trials beginning in October, attention is already turning to the 2026 season.<\/p>\n
\u201cBasketball is thriving in the St George area,\u201d Luther Shannon, Head of Coaching, said.\u00a0 \u201cWe are building pathways for juniors and seniors alike, and with the strength of our community and sponsors, the future is incredibly bright.\u201d<\/p>\n
General Manager Ms Stoddardt concluded: \u201cWe thank every sponsor, coach, manager, volunteer, player, and family who contributed to our success in 2025. Together, we look forward to another historic year in 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St George Basketball Association marked a major milestone with its Senior Presentation Night, held for the first time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181876,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-181875","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2-1024x683.webp.webp\")
Ash Ambihaipahar, MP Federal Member for Barton, with Maria Nordstorm CEO of Basketball NSW, presenting awards to Youth League Women, Lena Kahle, Nika Pobjie and Madeleine Zoumpoulis.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Screen-Shot-2025-10-01-at-3.51.40-pm-1024x682.png\")
General Manager Valerie Stoddardt address at the start of the Presentation Night.<\/p>\n