King Arthur holds court at awards

Spending six days a week coaching and refereeing while managing eight children by himself, it is little wonder David Arthur was awarded the Albany Basketball Association Reside family trophy for services to basketball.

Arthur was in charge of six teams throughout the season, including three in the women’s A-grade competition, and juggled that with refereeing three nights a week, running his own business and looking after his family.

He said it had been a challenging season of basketball, but one he had enjoyed.

“It’s been tough but it has been a good year — all the kids have played well and I’m happy,” he said.

Arthur, who coaches Flames, the Raiders under-18 development squad and Panthers in the top division of the women’s competition, said getting improvement out of his players was his priority.

“They’re all kids and they’re all developing, which is the main part of it,” he said.

“The older they get the better they’ll be.”

Arthur said the award was the highest accolade he had won in basketball.

“It’s a huge honour to win this — you don’t expect to win it,” he said.

“It’s the biggest thing I’ve won since being involved with basketball.

“You’re not down there to get an award, you’re there for the kids and to help out with the basketball.” The Albany Advertiser men’s and women’s A-grade all-stars were announced last Friday after the grand finals.