Michael McGorm is helping hoop dreams

Michael, why was Kerryn McCann's win in the 2006 Commonwealth Games such a highlight for you?

I've been to lots of sporting events at the MCG over the years including AFL grand finals and Boxing Day Tests to State of Origin games, but the effort of Kerryn on that day will stay with me forever.

The roar of the crowd willing her on to win the marathon was deafening.

The lead in the marathon changed so many times over the last 2km of the race before she pulled clear to win the event.

It send chills down my spine - it still does today when I think about it. I was so fortunate to have been in the MCG for that event.

Kerryn commented later that the marathon win was her great victory and the greatest race she had run.

It was fitting the Sport Australia Hall of Fame acknowledged that performance as one of our greatest sporting highlights.

Sadly, Kerryn lost her battle to cancer in December 2008, but her memory lives on through her wonderful sporting achievements for this country.

Michael, you're heavily involved in basketball in Warrnambool and across the region. Can you please explain what your role is in the sport?

I'm the junior development officer for the Warrnambool Basketball Association.

Mick McGowan, Wayne Hinkley and Geoff Hintum make up the junior committee. I've been in the part-time job since January.

The main aim of my job is to promote the sport within the schools and across the south-west in an effort to lift interest in basketball and grow participation rates.

Are you having any luck with your endeavours?

Yes, we're pleased how everything is tracking along. We can always go better but we're getting out there trying to put the message out to primary and secondary schools.

I've visited a lot of the schools both primary and secondary in Warrnambool since I started and now I'm planning on getting out to visit schools in Port Fairy, Terang and Koroit in the later part of the school year.

There's more than 1200 people who participate in basketball across the region, and that can be from the Seahawks and Mermaids down to the under 10s.

Traditionally this area has always been a strong area for footy and cricket but we're encouraged with the interest which has been shown by young people in basketball over the last few months.

I used to live and coach basketball in Melbourne. We often came across young school basketball sides from Warrnambool and they were always very good.

I was always amazed at the talent that young basketball players had from this region.

It was as good as larger metropolitan areas.

I suppose you keep a close eye on how the Mermaids and the Seahawks go on the courts?

Yes, I've been to a few games.

There's some great young basketball talent in the Seahawks and the Mermaids.

Interest in basketball in Warrnambool is in a good state but it's my job to make sure we attract more young people to play the sport and be interested in the game.

We've got some exciting things happening with basketball in Warrnambool.

We've signed up for the 3x3 basketball hustle competition. It's a form of the game played three-a-side on one basketball hoop.

It's a bit like Twenty20 cricket. I'm sure the young people will really love it.

Why did you make the move to Warrnambool?

My wife Wendy (Porter) has family down here.

We had been thinking for a few years to move out of the hustle and bustle of living in Melbourne.

This job came up and my wife got a job here as an accountant in local government, so we thought we might as well make the move.

My family is really loving the change.

I love surfing and I've done a bit of that since we made the move to Warrnambool.

We're here for the long haul as we've purchased a block of land out at Logan's Beach.

We're hoping to start building on the site in late November.

One of the things we're getting done is to put in an outside basketball area for our son.

He loves his basketball. He's been involved with the sport since he was six.

The timing has worked out really well.

We were lucky we lived a few kilometres out of Melbourne but we were often in there and it's just so busy with traffic now.

I had been the development officer with the Knox Basketball Association.

It was a seven-day a week job. It was pretty demanding but very rewarding as you got the chance to watch the young children - boys and girls from under eights to under 18s develop their skills.

We had very high participation rates for basketball across the eastern suburbs of Melbourne - some of the highest in Australia. We had 142 under eight teams playing basketball, which was a wonderful result for the sport.

Michael, apart from basketball have you been involved in any other sports?

I played a bit of footy with Bundoora in the reserves and the seniors but I never rated myself very highly.

I suppose I was a bit too light and I never really liked getting the hard ball in the tough Diamond Valley League.

They were lots of very tough players in the league who loved to throw their weight around, so I got involved in basketball again. I played junior footy at Marcellin College.

I played senior cricket for Watsonia and Heidelberg. I thought I was a pretty good fieldsman who could hold a bat and was an average bowler.

I really like cricket. I lacked the ability to be any good at it but I loved the social side of the sport.