Eric Miraflores has one heck of a basketball resume.
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He first started playing basketball in his home town in the Philippines, where he played at high-school and college levels.
He moved to Australia in 2006 before representing Craigieburn in Big V in 2012, where he won a championship in his first season.
At 36 years old, in 2018, he returned to his home country to play professionally, representing his country in a 3x3 FIBA tournament in Japan.
Miraflores returned to Australia in 2020, just a year shy of his 40th birthday, and made it to NBL1, suiting up for Albury.
NBL1 is the second-highest tier of Australian basketball.
A genuinely phenomenal rise that goes to show it’s never too late to chase your dreams.
He has represented the Benalla Breakers in the Country Basketball League the past few years, winning the North East division as the top scorer last year, dropping 30 points in the grand final.
He owns a business where he trains young basketball players, passing on his ball knowledge to the next generation.
“It’s a calling for me,” Miraflores said.
“It (training and coaching) opens everything up for me after playing.”
Many of those training sessions take place at the Benalla Indoor Recreation Centre, which is awaiting a $15 million upgrade announced by the Victorian Government last year.
According to Miraflores, the upgrade is long overdue.
“It’s very old, very dangerous,” he said.
“We need the upgrade, not just for basketball but all sports in Benalla.”
Miraflores said the quality of a stadium played a crucial role in the development of young players.
Players can’t be “serious because the stadium isn’t serious”.
He said it was difficult to get to play in the stadium, with the lack of courts leaving a large community of passionate young players feeling frustrated.
Sound familiar, Shepparton?
“You see the difference,” Miraflores said.
“Back home, I would train basically every day.
“In America, it’s the same.
“When I train a kid from Benalla or Shepparton, there’s a big difference between them and kids from Melbourne.
“They clearly haven’t had the same practice and are at different skill levels.”
Miraflores said young players from Shepparton had approached him to train but that it was difficult to get an indoor court and find time for a session.
“I feel bad for them,” he said.
“They have the passion for the game, just like me.
“The stadium is a big part of that.
“How are they going to get better?
“They need more access and the time to build a sporting culture.”
Miraflores has played in Shepparton at various times throughout his career, including in the CBL grand final last year.
He said through his connections with Gators players and coaches, he was acutely aware of the issues with the Shepparton Sports Stadium.
He said he believed a premier facility in Shepparton with increased court availability would benefit the wider region.
He pointed out that it would put less stress on facilities such as the Benalla Indoor Recreation Centre because people wouldn’t need to travel as far to access courts, meaning there would be more access for the core communities to use their stadium.
The location for the Benalla Indoor Recreation Centre is still being decided.
Miraflores praised the local council for asking community members for their thoughts and opinions about the new stadium along the way.
He said he hoped the current Benalla stadium would stay and the new one would be built somewhere else because it would mean more courts for the community, and the negatives of the current facilities would matter less with a brand new one being built.
Miraflores said he hoped Shepparton would get a new or upgraded stadium soon.
“I always say I hope a billionaire comes along and buys you guys a stadium,” he said, laughing.
“It’s good for everybody.
“Parents aren’t worried about where their kids are after school; they know they’re at the stadium practising and trying to get better.
“It would be great to have a new stadium for the Gators and the adult leagues, but for me, it’s always about the kids and getting them involved with basketball.”
Show your support for our campaign by signing our petition at www.change.org/p/upgrade-the-shepparton-sports-stadium
Stand For Our Stadium: The story so far
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