Big changes afoot to Aussie basketball

[rikhardur]

AUS - Australian basketball names new leader

SYDNEY (Basketball Australia) - Australian basketball has a new hand at the helm to guide it through the next stage of its commercial reform after the legendary Larry Sengstock was named as the sport's new Chief Executive Officer by Basketball Australia.

Sengstock comes to basketball as an acknowledged leader in Australian sports management with exceptional experience in working with all levels of sport both locally and internationally, all range of commercial enterprises and with all levels of government.

One of the best credentialed sports and event management executives in Australia, Sengstock was the Head of Sport and Athlete Services for the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games. He was one of the original members of the bid team that secured the Commonwealth Games for Melbourne and then a member of the Organising Committee that ensured the Games were a stunning success. Sengstock joins Basketball Australia from his current role as Senior Consultant of International Projects with market-leading sports, recreation and leisure planning consultancy SGL Group.

The former Boomers star played 293 games for Australia during his storied on-court career and represented Australia at four Olympic Games (1980, 1984, 1988, 1992) and four World Championships (1978, 1982, 1986, 1990). He won five National Basketball League Championships (1979, 1980, 1985, 1987) and was the NBL Grand Final Most Valuable Player in the league's 1979 inaugural season. The NBL Grand Final MVP medal has since been named in his honour and he is a member of both the Basketball Australia and NBL Halls of Fame.

Chairman of the Board of Basketball David Thodey said BA undertook an exhaustive search for someone with proven leadership ability and impeccable corporate credentials and were thrilled to find Sengstock.

"Basketball faces great challenges in the next few years but is also entering a period of unparalleled opportunity," said Thodey. "It was vital therefore that we appointed a CEO with a demonstrated track record - someone who has vision, drive and a proven ability to successfully manage a transformational agenda. Larry Sengstock clearly fits that bill and the Board were delighted that he was available."

"We underwent an aggressive recruitment process to find ourselves a best-of-breed business leader. That's exactly what we've found in Larry Sengstock, who more than ticks every box. The fact that he also happens to be someone who is an Australian basketball icon, and who has been intimately involved with the sport at every level, is an unbelievable bonus."

Thodey paid tribute to departing BA Chief Executive Scott Derwin, who was a major driving force behind basketball's reform process.

"Larry will benefit from the solid foundation he will inherit from Scott Derwin's ten-year tenure. Scott did what no one before had managed to do - he got the NBL and BA not just to work together, but to unify into a single entity. That is a remarkable feat and one that will bear enormous fruit for the sport in the long-term. He led Australia's national program through three Olympic Games and two World Championships, with the international on-court success of our teams during that period including multiple medals and one world title. Scott was a leader who demonstrated resilience, commitment and passion for the vision of Basketball's reform. We owe him a great debt of gratitude."

Sengstock said he was looking forward to the challenge of growing the sport and finding ways to build linkages between the more than 600,000 participants and basketball's elite competitions and teams.

"I truly believe this is a time of opportunity for the sport," said Sengstock. "With the new men's national league set to be unveiled, Australia already having qualified for the 2010 senior World Championships, and the sport's stakeholders now unified and sharing a common purpose, we are poised on the brink of what could be a new golden age for basketball."

"I've heard plenty of people talk about basketball getting back to the success of the 1980s and '90s, but the reality is that we need to move the sport forward, rather than focusing on the past," Sengstock added. "Our goal is to bring the sport into the 21st century commercially so we can capitalise on basketball's huge participation base and international successes."

Sengstock will officially commence duties with BA on April 27.

http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/la.../arti.html