THE Hamilton Basketball Association has a new guiding group with Kira Ryan taking on the presidency following the Annual General Meeting two weeks ago.

Ryan will be partnered by Dean Le Roy as vice president, as the pair look to build on the recent autumn season.

“I was a willing participant, there were three nominations on the night and it went to a vote,” Ryan said.

“All the new board is looking to make some changes and get the association back to where it was.

“I am into coach and player development and also just simple things like how to score a game.”

Ryan has also held roles within Basketball Victoria (BV) and will look to leverage her contacts to help improve the local systems.

The new president was also excited for what Le Roy has planned with the referee department.

“Dean is taking on our ref chair, so we will be putting a lot of time into training our refs and giving them our support and really implementing that BV (Basketball Victoria) zero tolerance policy,” Ryan said.

Le Roy said despite missing out on the presidency, he was determined to stay involved and put his hand up for the vice president role.

“Just based on a couple of conversations with Kira and her pitch, I knew straight away the association was in good hands and I wanted to be a part of that,” he said.

“Most of the reason I am on board is to give a player point of view, just making sure that respect is back.

“There has been a shift in how the referees do feel they have been treated, so that is something we as a committee need to bring in and make sure we are all one big family again.”

With the association’s junior tournament scheduled for next weekend, it is a busy start to the term for the new board, but Le Roy was excited about the possibilities.

“I think team entries are up again, I think from here we can only go up,” he said.

“It is straight into the junior tournament then into our domestic season after that.

“The seven of us on the board are all hard workers and we are pretty determined to get going.”

The upcoming junior domestic season gets underway on October 10, while the seniors start the following day.