[Media Release – send out around 4 weeks before start up of Tournament 1]
Modify or delete all items in yellow then remove before distributing
MEDIA RELEASE
[put Date]
MIDNIGHT BASKETBALL STARTING IN [put LOCATION]
After a lot of hard work, local organisers have received approval to run the Midnight Basketball program in [put
Location]. Midnight Basketball Australia Chief Executive Officer, Tess White said she was delighted to see the
program start in [put Location] after so much hard work by local organisers.
Registration is now open for new players and volunteers. The first night of the inaugural Tournament will take place
on [put Date].
Starting at 7.30pm on [put Friday or Saturday] nights, the first 8 week Midnight Basketball [put Location] Tournament
will be held at [put Stadium Name and Address].
Midnight Basketball is a national, community-run program held in a safe environment on Friday or Saturday nights
for 12-18 year old 'at risk' youth. Each 8 week Tournament night includes a hot, nutritious dinner followed by a
compulsory life skills Workshop before the tournament basketball begins. A bus takes all players home to their front
door around midnight.
"Midnight Basketball is a natural catalyst for breaking down barriers, meeting new people and building trust. We
encourage both players and volunteers to get behind the inaugural Tournament. Come along and give it a go. We
invite the whole Community to get involved. We are seeing communities get a great sense of satisfaction by building
a great program together,” says Tess White.
[put Chair's Name, Job Title, Organisation], and Chair of the newly appointed Midnight Basketball [put Location]
Community Committee, said today that they were proud that so many people had got involved to drive Midnight
Basketball and support it and believes that volunteers will get a lot out of their involvement in the program.
A report from a successful Midnight Basketball program in Armidale NSW, reinforces this. “The fact that so many of
our volunteers have now spent valuable time with these kids, and have seen them smiling and laughing and wearing
themselves out on the court has, I think, changed their perception significantly. Rather than seeing them as the ‘bad’
kids hanging around in the mall or outside the pubs on a Saturday night, they now see them as, well, just a bunch of
kids out having fun,” said Maureen Chapman, Committee Member, Midnight Basketball Armidale Community
Committee and previously Head of the Department of Premier & Cabinet, Northern NSW.
“Each night requires 15 Volunteers who help with tasks like helping to serve dinner, setting up the workshop rooms,
managing teams, scoring, refereeing, and driving the buses.
"We welcome not only volunteers but all kinds of support from local organisations, whether it be inkind or financial
support. There are lots of ways you can help from running professional workshops or refereeing, through to providing
food, buses or even petrol," says [put Chair's name].
2
For further information and registration please contact as follows:
GENERAL ENQUIRIES ABOUT THE [put COMMUNITY] PROGRAM AND
PLAYER AND VOLUNTEER REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Register online at www.midnightbasketball.org.au/[Community]
Or enquire at [Community]@midnightbasketball.org.au
MEDIA CONTACTS
[put Name], Media Manager, Midnight Basketball [Community]
[put Office number] and/or [put Mobile number]
Midnight Basketball Australia Website: www.midnightbasketball.org.au
For national media enquiries, please contact Midnight Basketball Australia Media Contact:
Tess White, CEO, Midnight Basketball Australia, 0418 456 294, tess.white@midnightbasketball.org.au