Throughout 2023, Oceania will be featuring university clubs from around our region. All clubs are active on their university campuses and in their community. All provide opportunities for their members and unite students during their time at university.
Club of the week for 24 April is the PNG UniTech Bulls Basketball Club.
The PNG UniTech Bulls Basketball club is located in the northern town of Lae in Papua New Guinea. The club has many members and focuses on providing not only sport competition opportunity but it also aims to help encourage, mentor and develop its student members.
“We want all our young players to stay active and healthy and develop good social and leadership skills that will support them after graduation”, states Ms Veronica Michael, the club President and coach. “Being part of an active and inclusive club allows our players to contribute to community programs and participate in a sport they love. Many of the club’s past members are actually now involved in sports leadership roles or running development programs in the communities where they live and work.”, adds Ms Michael.
One such program that the club has developed provides primary and high schools students with opportunities to learn individual and teamwork skills using the sport of Basketball. University student leaders from the club visit rural communities throughout the year to deliver a skills based basketball program to those from remote villages.
“The program enables young people to learn new skills and it also provides an opportunity to identify talented junior players in the sport of Basketball”, says Ms Michael.
The club also participates in the Lae Amateur Basketball competition where their teams perform strongly against local competition. The club also has a vast alumni program and keep their players connected after they graduate from university. Ms Michael sums it up simply by saying “Once a UniTech Bull, always a Unitech Bull”.
Find out more about the club by searching UniTech Bulls on Instagram.
