Would you travel over 45,000 kilometres to play your favourite sport?<\/p>\n
Isabel Chambers, 13, has taken 30 flights between Karratha and Perth this year to play elite-level basketball.<\/p>\n
She is one of a number of high-achieving junior basketballers in the Pilbara mining city, 1,500km north of the state’s capital.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Karratha is a two-hour flight from Perth, where the majority of NBL1 West teams are based. (ABC Pilbara: Kelsey Reid)<\/p>\n
The next generation<\/p>\n
For Isabel, it is a mammoth commitment juggling travel, school and three different basketball teams.<\/p>\n
“Sometimes I haven’t really wanted to go down. I’ve wanted to stay here with my family,” she said.<\/p>\n
“But once I get down there, I’m fine and I’m happy to play with my team.”<\/p>\n
Isabel has been selected to represent WA at a national competition in Melbourne in January.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Isabel Chambers has travelled to Perth more than 30 times this year to play elite basketball. (ABC Pilbara: Kelsey Reid)<\/p>\n
She is already on a pathway to the NBL1 West \u2014 WA’s state basketball league \u2014 playing for the Cockburn Cougars’ development squad.<\/p>\n
Isabel’s father, Aaron Chambers, said the balance was hard, but her drive was inspiring to her family and three younger sisters.<\/p>\n
“Emotions sometimes fly high with all the travel and you know, lack of sleep and social sacrifices,” he said.<\/p>\n
“But I think it’s all been worth it with everything that she’s achieved.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Cale Buzzard, 17, visits the basketball courts at least once a day and dreams of playing NBL1. (ABC Pilbara: Kelsey Reid)<\/p>\n
Year 12 students Cale Buzzard and Ethan Wood-Hill also live and breathe the sport.<\/p>\n
Amid juggling ATAR exams and casual work, the duo are at the courts at least once a day training, playing, refereeing or coaching.<\/p>\n
They have completed more than 10 trips to Perth this year for try-outs and training with the Perth Redbacks, and dream of making it to the NBL1 one day.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ethan Wood-Hill, 17, \u00a0also dreams of playing NBL1 and travels to play with the Perth Redbacks. (ABC Pilbara: Kelsey Reid)<\/p>\n
“The way they train \u2014 the knowledge the coaches have is just so high compared to what we know up here,” Cale said.<\/p>\n
“Obviously, our coaches are amazing, but the level down there is just different, and I feel like we could really use that to help develop up here.”<\/p>\n
Both Cale and Ethan will move to Perth in 2026 for better access to NBL1 West programs and development opportunities.<\/p>\n
Sparking Karratha’s basketball dream<\/p>\n
A recent surge in youth development has led the Karratha Basketball Association (KBA) to launch a bid to be the newest NBL1 West team.<\/p>\n
It would make them the most remote state team in the country by almost 1,000km.<\/p>\n
Basketball is a popular sport in Karratha, with more than 2,000 junior and senior players.<\/p>\n
In 2023, Karratha Leisureplex hosted an exhibition game between the Geraldton Buccaneers and Perth Redbacks.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Karratha played host to the Perth Redbacks and Geraldton Buccaneers in 2023. (Supplied: Arctic Moon Photography)<\/p>\n
It was the first state league basketball game played in the north-west and tested the town’s appetite for a team.<\/p>\n
The game drew in a sell-out crowd.<\/p>\n
“It really created a great hype that people wanted to see that sort of level here more often,” former KBA president Jodie Swaffer said.<\/p>\n
“If other regional locations can make it happen, it kind of gave us that spark to go, we can do it too.”<\/p>\n
Geographic and infrastructure challenges<\/p>\n
However, infrastructure and Karratha’s remote location loom as major obstacles in the association’s bid to join the league.<\/p>\n
Basketball currently takes place on three indoor courts at the Karratha Leisureplex, which also hosts badminton, netball, gymnastics, futsal, pickleball and volleyball, as well as servicing the local high school.<\/p>\n
“We are absolutely maxed out \u2014 every \u2026 minute that is available to us on court we are taking,” KBA president Nathaniel Kett said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Nathaniel Kett says there is no extra court time available locally. (ABC Pilbara: Kelsey Reid)<\/p>\n
The city has a long-term plan to invest in further courts due to the level of demand.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, the KBA concedes it will not be feasible to play state games without a new stadium or significant upgrades.<\/p>\n
Karratha’s distance from Perth, where most clubs are based, poses another obstacle.<\/p>\n
A two-hour flight between Perth and Karratha can cost up to $1,000 per person each way.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The under 18s boy’s representative team, the Cyclones, train at Karratha Leisureplex. (ABC Pilbara: Kelsey Reid)<\/p>\n
NBL1 open to expansion<\/p>\n
There are currently four clubs in the league from outside the Perth region: Bunbury, Geraldton, Kalgoorlie and Mandurah.<\/p>\n
With the newest club \u2014 the Kalamunda Suns, from Perth’s east \u2014 joining in 2008, the NBL1 West is interested in growing the league, but not at the cost of quality competition.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Cale Buzzard, 17, will move to Perth at the start of 2026 to pursue his dreams. (ABC Pilbara: Kelsey Reid)<\/p>\n
To help support potential expansion, a newly developed procedure is set to be released next month to help clubs assess whether they fit the strict criteria.<\/p>\n
It will include items such as optimal venue standards, a requirement for both a men’s and women’s team, and at least a two-year lead-in time for a new club.<\/p>\n
Basketball WA chief basketball officer Tyrone Thwaites said any new club would need to raise the bar of the competition.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The three indoor courts at Karratha Leisurplex are in use for a combined 9,796 hours per year. (ABC Pilbara: Kelsey Reid)<\/p>\n
“It is a complex process, it’s a long process,” he said.<\/p>\n
“That’s because running an NBL1 program is not a cheap exercise \u2014 it’s a fulfilling one and we want to make sure that clubs that join do so in a way that is sustainable and makes sense.<\/p>\n
“It’s not something that we do on a whim.”<\/p>\n
The KBA is yet to make a formal application to join NBL1 West and hopes to join the league within the next three to five years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Would you travel over 45,000 kilometres to play your favourite sport? Isabel Chambers, 13, has taken 30 flights…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,164830,164828,164831,164825,164826,132730,164829,164822,164823,164824,164832,164827,85,45],"class_list":["post-285354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball-development","tag-basketball-wa","tag-cockburn-cougars","tag-isabel-chambers","tag-jodie-swaffer","tag-karratha","tag-karratha-basketball","tag-karratha-basketball-association","tag-nbl1","tag-nbl1-west","tag-perth-redbacks","tag-regional-athletes","tag-sports","tag-wa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285354","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=285354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}