Trevor Jackson
FOR more than 50 the name Beth Serle (now OAM) has been linked to basketball in the Limestone Coast and further afield.
This weekend during the Mount Gambier Junior Basketball Carnival she will be honoured by SA Country Basketball for her service, with a presentation to be held at the Icehouse at noon on Saturday by SA Country Basketball president Nathan Grosser.
The award will honour the time Serle has given to SA Country Basketball as secretary for many years and currently as vice president.
Speaking to The Border Watch this week, Serle was clearly moved by the announcement and was quick to suggest the honour came about due to the extensive volunteer network through SA Country Basketball over the years.
“It is not really my award,” she said.
“It is the award for hundreds of dedicated and committed volunteers within the SA Country Basketball framework.
“I think the award honours their contributions.”
Serle said without the help of those volunteers, the job simply would not be done and the SA country regions would be poorer for it.
“You can’t do it on your own – you have to have help,” she said.
“I can’t remember anyone saying no to a request for help unless they had a genuine reason.
“I think that speaks volumes for the culture of country SA and particularly country SA basketball.”
Serle began with SA Country Basketball senior and junior championships back in the 1970s.
She was named the inaugural secretary of the organisation, which came not by her own plan, but by those around her, as did her original involvement in the sport.
“A good friend in Di Facey was a very good basketballer,” Serle said.
“Burn Brunning had set up the Lakers men’s and women’s teams and when he left, Di took over as playing coach.
“She would be among the most successful playing coaches throughout country Australia.
“Because of my friendship I became manager of the team.
“Burn Brunning was the first president of SA Country Basketball and he asked me to be secretary but I said no.
“He came back from the meeting and said ‘sorry, you are secretary’.
“That is where it all started and the rest of it is history.”
Serle has fond memories of those early years, where she saw the SA Country Championships for both juniors and seniors grow.
“We started with the senior championships, then later the first of our junior championships which was 23 teams of Under 16s and Under 18s,” she said.
“The senior competition grew through the 70s and early 80s – the biggest number I can remember was 115 senior teams playing in the annual Country Championships.
“It was fiercely competitive and a strong competition in men and women.”
Serle put the success and growth of the junior championships down to the tireless work of development office Dean Kinsman.
“Dean’s commitment, foresight and sheer hard work was really the catalyst for junior competitions being set up in country associations, leading to our huge junior country championships,” she said.
“We held it over one weekend but now have it over two weekends, with in excess of 120 teams who compete in Under 14s and 18s over the Adelaide Cup weekend and 12s and 16s over the last weekend in March.”
Clearly Serle has a passion for her work within the sport, with juniors a real focus.
As a result the Australian Under 18 Girls Championship was named in her honour, known as the Beth Serle Perpetual Cup.
“Having been a maths and chemistry teacher, my reward has been seeing the growth of the people not just in sport, but in life, to see them become valued and contributing members of society,” Serle said.
“I believe junior sport, especially basketball, provides the vehicle, that pathway for them to develop those skills.
“I believe if you have ability and the will to work hard regardless of the education and coaching you get, you can become a good basketballer.”
There is no doubt 50 years has been a long haul for Serle, but she does not seem to see it that way.
“When you are having fun it is only a blink of the eye,” she said.
“There were challenges along the way, but I have a bit of a streak in me, if you throw me a challenge I embrace it with both hands and try to overcome the challenge, to develop positives from the challenge.”
Serle’s commitment to the sport has certainly taken a lot of time out of her life, which she does not regret, but is thankful to be able to do.
“I do have to pay tribute to my family, especially my husband and two sons,” she said.
“They have always supported me.”
All are welcome to attend the award ceremony at the Icehouse, on Saturday at 12pm.
