Collegians Centre wows fans

Just before Christmas the brand-new Collegians Centre had a baptism by fire when it played host to a Round 8 game between the UC Canberra Capitals and Adelaide Lightning.

The morning of the sold-out game, a power outage of the main switchboard at the National Convention Centre left organisers scampering to find a new venue.

At 09:30 that morning, Radford College's Head of Basketball, Mr Ryan Kinnane, received a phone call from the organisers, asking that the College please be on standby in case the electricity issues at the Convention Centre couldn't be resolved. Mr Kinnane informed the school's Director of Sport, Ms Megan Fritsch, who in turn informed Interim Principal, Mr Andy Gordon, the COO, Mr David Perceval, the Facilities Manager, Mr Craig Webber and the newly appointed Venues Manager, Ms Amy Rowe.

After receiving hourly updates on the progress at the Convention Centre, Ms Fritsch was told at 13:30 that the game was indeed being moved to Radford. The teams would start warming up at 17:00 for a 19:00 start.

"We had three hours to put it all together," Ms Fritsch explained. The stakes were also very high for the local team. "There was no other option. If they couldn't hold it at Radford, they would have had to forfeit."

Although basketball games had been played in the Collegians Centre prior to the 21st of December, nothing of this scale had been done there before. This was also the first time the score board and the team locker rooms were used.

For the three hours prior to the arrival of the players, the school and the organisers worked together to get everything ready for the players and the supporters. "We all had one goal for those three hours - to get the game on." Everyone pitched in to help - whether it be to print maps for parking or arranging for coffee and snacks at the game.

Supporters were notified via the UC Capitals website and social media that the venue had changed.

Initially some supporters were disappointed, because they assumed that the game would be played in the G. Wigg Sports Centre where some of the pre-season games had been played. This venue wouldn't have been big enough to host the number of ticketholders, but the Collegians Centre could easily fit the 1500 fans who showed up for the game.

Ms Fritsch described what followed as a career highlight. "The atmosphere was very much like a US College football or basketball game." The design of the Centre meant that the supporters could get close to the players and the action. "This was an opportunity to showcase this incredible facility and show what sport at Radford can be and what it can bring to our community."

Many people shared their experience of the game on social media. Nicole Bowles, the CEO of Basketball ACT, used Facebook to congratulate the UC Capitals on their 87 -73 win over Adelaide Lightning, to thank the organisers, and to thank the College staff: "Radford College is a great new venue to have in Canberra for the school and sporting community. Thank you to all the Radford Staff who made tonight's game possible as well as a true community effort".

The fans seemed to agree:

Jade Melbourne, who scored 31 points on the night for the UC Capitals, had the following to say:
“Playing at Radford was awesome. The atmosphere in the stadium was incredible, my whole team absolutely loved it. The new facilities are amazing and we’re undefeated on that court so I really hope we get the opportunity to play there again some day. A massive thank you must go out to all the staff members at Radford that made it happen. A crazy circumstance but everyone involved did an amazing job at pulling it off and made it feel like home for us. The whole night ran so smoothly so it was great that it finished off with a big win."

Hopefully this will be the start of many more world class games played at Radford.

To watch highlights from the game, please click here.