Basketball is one of the fastest growing sports in the country and ACC is ensuring that the next generation of players are supported to stay in the game longer.
The government agency announced yesterday that they will invest $340,000 into Basketball New Zealand (BBNZ) over the next 18 months to reduce injuries and protect players, modelled on the highly regarded ACC SportSmart neuromuscular programme.
ACC’s SportSmart programme is an evidence-based, proven intervention being delivered successfully in netball, rugby, touch, rugby league and football to prevent knee and ankle injuries. Every year ACC accepts over 20,000 new claims for basketball-related injuries. These injuries come at a cost of over $20 million each year to help people recover, and the numbers are increasing.
This makes basketball the fourth largest contributor of sports injuries (both in costs and volume) behind rugby, football and netball. Knee and ankle injuries contribute to nearly 40 percent of total basketball claims accepted by ACC.
BBNZ CEO, Dillon Boucher says resourcing for basketball nationally has been a challenge over the years with the skyrocketing growth of its participation base. He sees this partnership as being transformational for the sport.
“This is an absolute game-changer for us. We’re quickly becoming New Zealanders’ number one sport of choice and this partnership will support our sport to be a safe and enjoyable space for everyone who plays it,” he says.
“With more and more people playing but with resourcing struggling to keep up with this demand, it’s been difficult at times to provide the level of player wellbeing and welfare support that our participants need. Today that changes and we’re incredibly grateful for the level of confidence in us that ACC have demonstrated through this partnership.
“Injuries, particularly serious ones, can change people’s lives and take people out of the game they love . Thanks to ACC we’re going to be able to work towards significantly reducing the number of people affected by them in our sport.”
The partnership with Basketball NZ will enable the integration of SportSmart into the basketball community. It will complement the player wellbeing initiatives already in development within the national sports organisation.
ACC Injury Prevention Leader James Whitaker says it’s great to welcome Basketball New Zealand to the stable of national sports organisations.
“We know that basketball is one of the fastest growing sports in Aotearoa,” he says.
“They have over 100,000 registered players and have experienced significant growth in the past 10 years. It’s great to align with them and develop a programme that is going to help us reduce the incidence and severity of injuries in the game.”
This is a green fields opportunity to embed injury prevention knowledge and behaviours into the basketball coaching framework.
The SportSmart neuromuscular programme will be the foundation of this work aiming to support player wellbeing and keep players in the game longer. Modelled off the Fifa 11+, it covers the three key elements of effective injury prevention for sport: core strength, muscular control and balance, and plyometrics and agility.
A study published by the British Medical Journal in 2008 found that teams performing this programme at least twice a week had 37 percent fewer training injuries and 29 percent fewer game injuries. Severe injuries reduced by almost 50 percent.
Basketball Injury Prevention Programme Fact box
- Basketball the fourth largest contributor of sports injuries in New Zealand
- Every year ACC accepts over 20,000 new claims for basketball-related injuries at a cost of over $20 million.
- ACC will invest $340,000 into Basketball NZ over the next 18 months to reduce injuries and protect players
- The programme will be modelled on the highly regarded ACC SportSmart neuromuscular programme.
BBNZ Performance and Prevention Project Lead
To help support this ground-breaking project, BBNZ are now recruiting for a Performance and Prevention Project Lead – find out more at nz.basketball/about-us/vacancies/
