Stewart named Basketballer of the Year at Bears Awards night

Despite his deep involvement in nearly every facet of the association's operations this year, he never considered the possibility of winning Basketballer of the Year.

But that's exactly what happened on Friday night, when the Bears gathered at the Goulburn Soldiers Club for their 2021 presentation night.

"It was a surprise, but I was happy," Bailey said.

"The association does a fair bit for me, so it's good to feel like I gave something back to them."

He was one of four major award winners on the night. The others were Isaac White (Junior Male Basketballer of the Year), Hannah Bowles (Junior Female Basketballer of the Year), and Jess Edmonds (Coach of the Year).

The event itself ran smoothly, though a number of members couldn't make it due to a variety of reasons.

"It was a good night, unfortunately with the weather we had a few people who couldn't get here," Bears committee member, Andrew Stewart, said.

"From that point of view it was a bit disappointing, but otherwise it was a good night. A few people had other commitments on the night, given the time of year it was."

Although the COVID-19 lockdowns across NSW forced a premature end to the season, the Bears enjoyed success in a number of areas this year, primarily through its junior sides.

"We had some success with our junior teams, with the competitions they played in," Andrew said.

"Unfortunately our junior boys started to come good as the season ended there in July, so that was disappointing from that side of things. In their last game, they beat the team that was eventually crowned winners due to the placing of the ladder, so that showed the potential they had.

"Pretty much everything in the juniors was completed, bar the State Challenge that every team had the chance to go to, and they would have had the chance to play teams from other junior leagues. So that was the only thing they missed out on."

The Bears have already begun their preparations for the 2022 season, with representative trials underway.

Stewart doesn't expect to lose too many players next season, with only one departure so far from the Youth League Men's team, and he added that the Open Women's team will likely make a return as well.

"We've probably got three or four girls left over from the Under 18s this year that could play in that division next year, so we won't have enough numbers to have an Under 18s Girls team," he said.

"So they're going to push up and we're going to put them in the Open Women's competition. We've also got some ex-players coming back and having a run, so that'll be exciting."

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