On September 23, the Kiama Junior Basketball Association honoured John Trappman as he stepped down from his role as President after nearly a decade of leadership. 

Trappman has been involved with the club for 18 years, contributing as both a coach and administrator, and he even played for Kiama’s representative team, which he captained in 1978-79. 

“I’ve been involved with basketball since I was 19, and now I’m 70—that’s 51 years,” says Trappman. 

“It all started when I was playing rugby union in Sydney. One of the players suggested playing basketball instead of training on Tuesdays, and that’s how I got started. I didn’t realise how physically demanding the game actually is.” 

Since then, Trappman developed a deep passion for the sport. “I’ve been addicted to it ever since,” he says. “I love playing because it’s a great game, and you can play in any weather. You can even play 2-3 games a week.” 

After his playing career ended, Trappman took a break before returning to the Kiama basketball community. He recalled that when he rejoined 18 years ago, basketball in Australia was struggling. 

“When I came back, basketball was in decline. There was even talk of the NBL shutting down for a couple of years. But they didn’t, and since then, the sport has experienced a massive incline, which is still ongoing thanks to strong associations,” Trappman says. 

His return to basketball was driven by a desire to give back to the coaches, volunteers, and administrators who had supported him throughout his career. 

One of his proudest moments was coaching a team to victory in the Country Championships in 2014—the first time the club had won in over a decade. 

“I coached kids from a young age all the way through, and winning the Country Championship was massive for us,” says Trappman. 

Reflecting on his years with Kiama Junior Basketball, Trappman expressed his appreciation for the support of parents. 

“The most amazing thing about basketball is how supportive the parents are. They never tell you how to coach or what to do—they just back you up, which makes the job so much easier,” says Trappman.

As he steps down, Trappman feels confident about the future of the club, which he believes is in a strong position with dedicated volunteers and a capable committee. 

“I’d like to thank everyone who has helped over the years—there are too many to name. We had times where just one or two of us were running the club, but many people stepped up to help. It’s been hard work, but I’ve loved every minute of it,” he says.

“Over the years, we’ve struggled to maintain a strong committee, but now we have one. The volunteers are great, the numbers are growing, and it’s the perfect time for me to step aside.”

Approximately ten years now, I’ve been here 18 years. I came back to Kiama basketball when my children stopped playing for Illawarra - I was involved with the coaching up there and what I did then was I had a break of 12 months then I thought I’d come back. The committee of the day put an ad in the paper saying they were desperate for volunteers - I was always on the coaching side. So I come to the meeting, accepted the position as coach and ever since then I’ve been on the committee.

I’ve been involved with basketball since I was 19 so I’m 70 now so 51 years. In that time I’ve coached, I’ve started and run clubs, I’ve just been involved that long - right from playing to coaching to reffing to organising anf I represented Kiama myself so it was a way of giving back to that. I actually captained the rep team back in the days when we didn’t have the stadium and we were up at the high school in 78 and 79.

We had at that stage, and I was playing three nights a week at Kiama, Lake Illawarra and Wollongong, so I was involved with all three.

 I was 19 when I first started, I was playing rugby union in Sydney and one of the players decided that instead of training on a Tuesday we would play basketball so that was how I got started and I didn’t realise how physically demanding the game actually is. We were huffing and puffing.

It’s a different game and I enjoy basketball more. I enjoy playing, it’s a great game. And its a great game because you can play all weather and you can play 2-3 games a week.

Like every association it has had its ups and downs, when I first started back here 18 years ago we were still strong, but at that time basketball had taken a big decline. There was even talk of the NBL shutting doen for a couple of years but they decided not to. Then we had this massive incline which we’re still in now and thats a result of the great associations. And like everything, if the hawks are doing well then basketball is doing well.

We have grown, we’ve got a very strong representative association, we have all four grades who have teams and last year when we picked our rep teams we had 20 plus kids in every age group showing up.

I coached kids from a very young age right through and in 2014 we ended up winning the country championship which was massive. And that was a big thing because that is NSW country. I’ve had a lot of ups and downs in our sport but the most amazing thing about basketball in my opinion is how good and how well behaved the parents are. They just back you up all the time and they never once tell you how to coach or what to do, they’re just always supporting and that makes it so easy.

Id like to thank everybody over the years for their help, there’s too many to name. We had years where there was only 1 or 2 of us running it and theres just been so many who have helped me. It’s been hard, but I’ve loved it. Over the years we’ve struggled within our association to have a good committee. I now have a very strong committee. I have a strong committee, good volunteers to run the club and it was just a great time to get out.

Growth is hard because we’re limited with court space, so realistically we can’t grow anymore but just to maintain what we have at the moment would be great.