CEO Dean Anglin and the athletes of the Basketball Geelong Association had a dream to find a permanent facility for their games and tournaments. Basketball Geelong is an association in Geelong, Australia that manages area youth and semi-professional leagues including the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) men’s and women’s Geelong Supercats, teams in the Victorian Junior Basketball League, The Big V senior league and more.
To offer more programs to the Geelong community, continue to develop youth skills and generate income in ways beyond the basic basketball game fees, the association knew the vital importance of a home stadium. Plus, with 80 percent of the players in the Geelong Supercats coming from the Basketball Geelong Developmental Program, the desperate need for a home court facility was well-deserved and justifiable.
For many years, the association was forced to play in various facilities in the Geelong area due to trouble funding a multi-court home facility. A unique agreement between Basketball Geelong and AWA Alliance Bank allowed the association to creatively determine ways to deliver the much-needed courts to Geelong.
A #BuiltByGeelong campaign provided the opportunity for the community to pitch in as well. To help finish the facility, citizens and association members made monetary donations that went towards basketball court floorboards and more. Plus, the discovery of a sizable vacant warehouse made the dream a reality.
Warehouse Turned Stadium
Interestingly enough, a warehouse that was once filled with timber would find new life as a basketball facility lined with hardwood maple sports flooring from Action Floor Systems®. With the help of local vendors, including the project architect, Four18, the former timber warehouse was converted into a multi-court basketball center for Basketball Geelong.
The large, open space made renovation much more efficient and economical than constructing a facility from the ground up.
“The two-warehouse facility in Belmont, Australia, was chosen because it was an existing warehouse building – it was previously used by a timber supplier,” shares Ace Floors and Coatings Director Jason Tully. “There was only minor work that needed to be done to transfer the warehouse into the basketball stadium, so it was a perfect fit for the client.”
Action Floors’ Australian dealer partner Ace Floors and Coatings won the bid for what many said was the most important part of the renovation: the hardwood maple sports flooring.
Ace Floors and Coatings previously completed work in the nearby Geelong Arena where the Geelong Supercats play, and Anglin knew he could count on the flooring dealer to bring reliability and excellence to this major project.
“To say we were impressed by the professionalism of Ace Flooring when they replaced the Annex floor last Christmas is an understatement” said Anglin, adding that the chosen floor system for the Basketball Geelong facility would “give players of all ages the very best flooring possible.”
Quick Turnaround for a Professional Flooring System
To achieve the association’s goal to host more tournaments and games, Ace Floors and Coatings installed 42,000 SF of maple flooring in the facility. This resulted in six basketball courts for Basketball Geelong.
A six-court installation is a massive project in comparison to the single and double court installations Ace Floors and Coatings normally sees. A project of this magnitude would normally have a nine-week timeline to comfortably install and complete.
“The timeline was condensed to six weeks because the basketball club had a competition scheduled that couldn’t be changed. It would be a great opportunity to showcase the venue to all the members of the club,” says Tully. “We were originally given nine weeks to complete the work, but the other trades with scheduled work in the building before us took longer than expected.”
Without a doubt in their minds, the Ace Floors and Coatings crew got to work installing the Action ProAir WBS flooring systems, despite the speedier turnaround. And, with so many different players with varying level of experience using the Basketball Geelong facility, the flooring selection was not taken lightly.
“The basketball club has various athletes from kids just learning the game through to semi-professionals playing and training in the second highest competition in Australia,” shares Tully. “They also requested the floor system have the FIBA Level 1 Certification.”
The Action ProAir WBS flooring system provides great ball response and uniform stability due to the combination of wide body sleepers and Action E-Crush pad, topped with Action maple flooring. This helps to maximize the athletes’ comfort and performance.
Tully added that the Action ProAir WBS floor system was the perfect choice because it is both high performing and cost effective.
Home At Last
Since the opening of the facility in November, thousands of basketball players have enjoyed the perks of a location that can finally cater to more athletes. Plus, consistently scheduled tournaments and games are a sign of long-term success and facility popularity.
“Forever we’ve been in somebody else’s venue,” shared Anglin in a Geelong Advertiser article. “We’ve never had the ability to say we’ve got a place that is ours. This gives us that forever now.”
The new facility, named the AWA Alliance Bank Stadium thanks to the bank’s support, allows the club to host 3,600 players per week—a huge opportunity to further develop the association’s member base.
“The Basketball Geelong CEO Dean Anglin could not be happier with Ace Floors and Action Floors,” shared Action Floors Sales Representative Norm Goedheer. “Anglin has turned the new basketball court business model on its head with all other associations now looking to him for their future expansions. Anglin transformed a warehouse into a superb six-court stadium for a fraction of the cost of building from scratch, and they hope to replicate the project next door in a soon to be vacant building.”
At Action Floors, no project is too small or too large. Whether you are looking to renovate a multi-court facility like Basketball Geelong or replace flooring in places where Olympians and professional athletes fine tune their skills, we’ll help you find a solution that satisfies both athletes and facility owners. To learn more, contact us today at 800-746-3512, or online, and mention that you read the article on Basketball Geelong.
