Sport
16 August, 2024
Horsham Hornets not entering a CBL women's team for the 2024 season
Player availability led to the team being withdrawn for 2024.
Sport
CBL
The Horsham Hornets have made the difficult decision to withdraw their women's team from the upcoming 2024 CBL season due to a lack of available players.
Horsham Amateur Basketball Association president Matt Grace cited player unavailability as the main reason for the decision.
"It's a tough decision we had to make; losing all your experience and knowledge that some ladies have had for us over the years it is a big loss," Mr Grace said.
"It's disappointing to not have a women's program, because we definitely try very hard to promote women in sport, especially in basketball and keeping them involved."
Fielding a younger side this season could "potentially do more damage than good", according to Mr Grace.
However, plans are in place to keep the senior and junior talent involved to ensure the Hornets will have a women's side take to the court once again in 2025.
"It would be a matter of keeping, especially the senior girls involved in the decision-making of what we'd be looking to do," Mr Grace said.
It is about keeping a basketball in their hands for the club's juniors.
"Keeping them involved, training, keeping the skills up, and having that pathway [to the CBL program]," he said.
"We will definitely set up a training program for them, and not just let it [the talent] go by the wayside."
Mr Grace expects the Hornets to have a CBL women's program next season.
"It's definitely not going to be a long hiatus. It's just something that we have got to focus on for the next 12 months," he said.
"It'll be different not having the women's team there, but we're definitely still going to be promoting the girls, keeping them involved and making sure we're there come 2025."