TIPS FOR (ACTUALLY) SOCIAL BASKETBALL

June 21, 2023 - one year ago

What’s up players?!! Did you know that social basketball is played in almost all of Urban Rec’s locations around Australia? If you're keen on having a ripper time on the court and shooting hoops with your mates, then social basketball is where it's at! Whether you're a seasoned baller or just starting out, we've got a few tips to help you make the most of your game and avoid any rookie mistakes. Grab your sneakers and let's get into it!

First things first, it's all about teamwork. Our basketball leagues are more about having fun rather than winning championships (okay okay we know winning is awesome but having fun is actually better!). Make sure you communicate with your team and play off each other's strengths. 

Now, let's talk about defense! Playing solid D can make a huge difference in the game. Get in your opponent's face, use your wingspan, and don't be afraid to get a bit physical. Just don't go overboard and commit any fouls that'll earn you a trip to the bench! Keep it friendly and have a laugh along the way.

When it comes to shooting, practice makes perfect!. Hit up the local court or your backyard and work on your jump shot. Get your aim right, focus on your form, and don't forget to follow through with that flick of the wrist! If you miss a shot, no worries, mate. Keep your chin up and hustle for the rebound. There's always another opportunity to sink that three-pointer!

Another thing to keep in mind is fitness. Basketball can be a real cardio workout, so make sure you're in decent nick so you don’t let your teammates down. Run some laps, do some sprints, and get those lungs pumping. Don't forget to stretch before and after the game to avoid any injuries. The last thing you want to do is pull out of your game! That ain’t fun.

Lastly, don't be a ball hog. Sharing is caring, and in social basketball, everyone deserves a fair go. Pass the ball, involve your teammates, and make sure everyone gets their fair share of play time. Remember, the more everyone gets involved, the more fun it'll be for everyone!

So there you have it, there’s a few handy tips to keep in mind for your social basketball sessions. Play hard, have a laugh, and enjoy the banter with your mates. Just remember, it's not all about the scoreboard, but about the good times you'll have both on and off the court. Now go out there, give it a red-hot crack, and may the basketball gods be on your side!

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Hiring: National Marketing Coordinator

March 16, 2023 - one year ago

Urban Rec Sports Club is a premier adult recreational sports organization that operates in major cities across Australia. We offer a variety of sports leagues and events for all adults and skill levels to participate in, including dodgeball, netball, flag football, football, volleyball, soccer, and more.

Our culture is very fun-loving, disruptive, colloquial and social. We pride ourselves on being flexible, and very high performing. We are super professional, but don’t take ourselves too seriously. We are looking for a National Social Media & Marketing Co-ordinator to support our Managing Director.

The role is 2 days a week (15 hours per week) with flexible hours so would suit someone studying or returning to the workforce. For the right candidate, this contract will expand quickly.

ABOUT THE ROLE

• Create and schedule monthly marketing content for social media channels.
• Create content for seasonal advertising activities.
• Create a monthly newsletter template.
• Write content/articles for our website and Linked in Etc.
• Use Canva to create and oversee Brand Templates and Company content pools
• Review and approve content posted through our social media management platform - be the brand guardian.
• Reply to comments and questions, be proactive at monitoring conversations.
• Manage our Facebook Groups and communities to build brand loyalty.
• Find and pitch sponsors for our charity events.
• Create/update and send sponsor packages for national initiatives.
• Proactively seek and pitch PR opportunities.
• Organizing nationwide monthly events, collating presentations, setting agendas.
• Auditing and updating website content for national promotions and SEO requirements (attend monthly meetings).
• Manage and oversee paid advertising to find optimisation opportunities.
• Support MD on additional administration tasks as needed.

ABOUT YOU

• You are creative.
• You understand the internet and social media.
• Proficient or willingness to learn and upskill on platforms like Canva, Meta ads, Buffer, Monday.com etc.
• Good eye for detail and design as well as branding consistency
• Excellent copywriting skills for article writing, web administration, and caption writing.
• An interest in social media trends and hot topics (around sports, even better)
• A natural eye for video editing.
• No formal marketing experience required, though you need to have the flair and an eye of what our customers want.
• Living in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and available to attend leagues from time to time.

We are looking for someone to join our team long-term, but this contract is 3 months to start to ensure we gel and improve. We do not want an agency for this role, it is in-house only!

HOW TO APPLY

Send your resume and a cover letter/email to [email protected]

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Gender Identity Inclusion, Rule Updates, Pride Round 2023

February 17, 2023 - one year ago

Urban Rec is proud to announce that we have recently updated our gender identity options across member profiles, the registration process, and rules within our club. 

While Urban Rec has always been LGBTQI+ friendly, the functionality of being able to offer places on team rosters for those that don’t identify as man or woman, has not been possible…Till now. 

We believe that all Australian’s should have access to social sports. We welcome all people, of any gender identity to join Urban Rec and benefit from the physical and mental health benefits that come with playing social sport. Urban Rec aims to provide a supportive and inclusive space for everyone, now and always. 

HERE ARE THE SMALL, BUT IMPORTANT CHANGES

1. Players can select a gender identity other than man or woman when creating their member profile.
2. Individual teams will have space available on team rosters for people who are non-binary, transitioning etc. 
3. Our sports rules have been updated to remove references to gender advantages or disadvantages in the context of scoring, defending, or positioning.
4. Urban Rec has become a member of Pride in Sport, a national not-for-profit sporting inclusion program specifically designed to assist sporting organisations at all levels. 

WHY ARE WE NOT MAKING ALL LEAGUES OPEN? I.E. NO GENDER REQUIREMENTS

Urban Rec has long been at the forefront of efforts to drive gender equity in the social sports environment. While many of our counterparts in the adult recreation space claim to be facilitating mixed-gender environments, there are very few other adult recreation providers that are facilitating exclusively mixed-gender leagues with the minimum inclusion requirements that we have long held to be fundamental to our programs.

All sports need to have a minimum gender identity requirement. Without gender identity requirements within a mixed sports environment we would unfortunately take away the equity of women, men and non-binary individuals having access to play in a mixed-gender, social, fun and fair environment. Simply stated, we would become a male dominated sports club. 

MORE ON RULE UPDATES

• Our sports rules have been updated to remove references to gender advantages or disadvantages in the context of scoring, defending, or positions. 
• Where appropriate physical advantages and disadvantages have been taken into consideration.
• These include Touch Football, Basketball, Softball, Flag Gridiron and Netball.
• These rules are now live within your member dashboard and on our website.

ACKNOWLEDGE THESE CHANGES WITH URBAN REC’S FIRST PRIDE ROUND

• Pride Round is happening nationally within all Urban Rec cities, Feb 20 till 24, 2023.
• To acknoledge all of our LGBTQI+ community as well as the additional announcements and updates.
• We welcome players to wear some rainbow to show their support.
• In Sydney, Our Party Cart will be attending a league each night with support from our sponsor, Young Henrys.
• Donate what you can for a sausage and a beer towards Access Social Sports, and PrideCup.
• What is Access Social Sports? Check out our instagram post here.

WHAT DO URBAN REC MEMBERS NEED TO DO?

Get to know your updated rules, continue to play with kindness and fairness. If you have a question about someone's gender identity before, during or after a game, talk to your Event Host. Urban Rec has zero tolerance for homophopia, biphobia and transphobia. 

These updates are new for our club and an ever-progressive process for us all. We will not get this right the first time, and we do not pretend to have it all figured out, but we promise we are trying our best. Through our membership with Pride in Sport and the input from our LGBTQI+ community, we will continue to update and evolve as necessary. Our commitment is enduring. 

If you have any questions or suggestions about the policy or updates, please contact [email protected] 

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Netball experience life changing for Emma Bastable

February 15, 2023 - one year ago

Emma Bastable (far right) pictured with her teammates. 

By Renae Smyth

Transgender netballer Emma Bastable first started playing in the Urban Rec Netball league in Sydney’s inner suburb of Redfern in 2018. 

A mixed social competition that Emma signed up for as an individual on a whim. A daunting step to take, given she didn’t know her teammates or the rules of the game.

Although, having played cricket, rugby and soccer growing up, Emma knew the rules and friendships would come later. So, for now, she focused on the fun and the opportunity to switch off from her days, working as a solicitor.

Taking more than eight years away from playing any sport, Emma admits there was always a concern in the back of her mind. An uneasy feeling that she may not be accepted by her team or the club.

“I was worried about the transgender stuff at first, I think that was one of the reasons why I hadn’t played sport for so long,” she said.

To her surprise, her gender was never a problem.

“It was totally not a big deal. Everyone accepted me and validated me in my gender. It was just never an issue,” she said.

Emma felt the support of fellow teammates and instantly felt welcome. Pulling on the GK bib for ‘The Flinstones’ felt right.

“I got really lucky in a way. I met a group of people that I really liked,” she said.

“The team was super supportive. I told them that I had never played netball before, so they were giving me tips and helping me along the way.”

Emma now plays multiple nights a week in five different teams and can’t imagine life without the game.  

“Netball has become such a huge part of my life and a big part of my identity.

“Having positive experiences over and over again has just made it easy to slowly start to play in more leagues and progress my abilities.

“I don’t know what I would be doing with a lot of my time if I hadn’t had such a good experience [with netball].”

The community netballer has thrown her support behind Netball Australia’s recent announcement of policy guidelines for inclusion of transgender and gender diverse athletes in the elite competitions.

“Diverse representation at higher levels is just so important for making everyone feel welcome in the leagues and in the teams.

“Kids look up to high-profile players and if they decide to pursue netball more seriously as a career, it is comforting to know that it’s an option for them. An option for everyone.”

To Emma, knowing the netball community has provided pathways and opportunities for others like her within the sport brings a level of acceptance, but hopes to see more engagement at the grassroots level.

“It’s really important for transgender people to be accepted and given the opportunity and to know that someone out there has there back.

“It takes a lot to take that first step of signing up for a community sport and if you have a bad experience, it could be enough to disincentivise you to stop playing sport all together.

“Encouraging  transgender people to participate in community sport goes a long way to changing attitudes and normalising acceptance of us and showing that we’re just out there doing our own thing and living a normal life.”

Emma will be a voice within the transgender and gender diverse community that will work with Netball Australia and netball member organisations as they develop policy guidelines for inclusion of transgender and gender diverse netballers at a community level.

Taking that brave step onto the court is an experience that Emma believes has changed her life and the person she has become, very much for the better.

“I’ve made so many friends through netball, friends that I never would have met before if I wasn’t playing netball,” she said.

“It allows me to be a better person and live a better life than I otherwise would be.”

For the original post from Netball Australia: https://netball.com.au/news/netball-experience-life-changing-emma-bastable 

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2022 Beach Sports Party Wrap Up

November 15, 2022 - 2 years ago

Urban Rec Canberra’s Annual Beach Sports Party.

It was a Friday Night in the early weeks of November. Last years’ event was cancelled with La Nina working overtime, but thankfully this year she had taken the night off and we had nothing but blue skies and beautiful sunsets, the main ingredients for an epic Urban Rec event.

As the teams started to roll in, the smell of freshly mowed grass, sausages sizzling and beer cans frothing to be opened, hit everyone hard. We knew it was going to be a good night.

Your host for the evening, lets call her Ba-na-na, welcomed everyone in at the beginning of the night. This one was special, this one was to raise funds for Access Social Sport Association, raising money to put straight back into the community, the ones who really need it.

Beach Volleyball, Beach Soccer, Beach Dodgeball & Beach Fijian Touch, the sports that filled the night with laughter.

Untouched by The Veronicas, The Nutbush & The Macarena, the sounds that made teams, from all different leagues, dance together.

Sausage Sangas (Vegetarian too of course), Beer, Cider & some of the most top shelf Pepsi Max, the essentials of an Urban Rec Event and with it all being donation based, a successful night for Access Social Sport Association.

The Beach Sports Party, our annual event to celebrate an amazing year of Social Sport, but also a chance for teams who wouldn’t normally see each other, to mingle and become friends.

‘We are signing up a team to Sunday Multisport because I want to play with Sports for Dummies now’ – The Bread Getters, Nov 11th, 9:18pm.

The night slowly came to a close with a public, and very intense, game of Rock Paper Scissors to secure finals spots, a nail biting Semi Final & Grand Final and a hilarious, but fully athletic, Staff vs Winners Beach Volleyball game.

The chants of ‘ba-na-na’, the look of pure enjoyment, the dope AF playlists, the vegetarian sausages (we still can’t tell when they are cooked or not), the vibe of 12 of Urban Rec’s funnest teams, and an all- star staff line up, saw us raise a total of $700 to put back into the community.

Don’t want to brag, but Urban Rec sure know how to throw a party 😎

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WIN YOUR TEAM SUPPORTED BY GRILL'D THIS SPRING

August 29, 2022 - 2 years ago

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Canberra's favourite boat race is back this spring

August 26, 2022 - 2 years ago

LAUNCH ON A LAUNCH IS BACK!

THIS YEAR IT’S ONLY OPEN TO CURRENT TEAMS, REGISTERING IN PRIORITY FOR SPRING. 

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KingPin Providing the Fun Point Party!

August 18, 2022 - 2 years ago

WE’RE HAVING A PARTY AT KINGPIN & OUR FUN POINT WINNERS ARE INVITED!

Urban Rec is built around being fun, hence the fun points, & Kingpin is Canberra’s number one place to go have fun.

I think you could do the math but let me simplify it for you URBAN REC x KINGPIN = FUN POINT PARTY.

It’s simple, it’s straight to the point, it’s genius. All our Fun Point winners, across all of our leagues, will be invited to a night out at Kingpin!

To set the scene – Bowling, Karaoke, Games, Bar Tab AND all of our Fun Point winners in the one place at the one time. To us, that is worth being the funnest team out there each week. (If you disagree, your invite may get lost in the mail 👻)

Moral of this story, go and be the funnest team, the team you would want to play against each week, the team that has banter (the fun kind), the team that doesn’t care about winning & the team that gets invited to party with us at Kingpin at the end of the season.

The end, go forth and vibe my friends.

Urban Rec Canberra HQ

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The Modern Day Side Hustle

August 17, 2022 - 2 years ago

Every dick and his dog seem to have a side hustle these days, Uber drivers, Deliveroo cyclists, selling old shit on Marketplace. Some people have started side hustle companies, developing apps, investing in bit-coin. What is next? Well, for the everyday sports fan, subscribing to Kayo does not come cheap, so Urban Rec Event Hosting might just be the side hustle you need to afford those ridiculous petrol prices.

You don’t need to be a qualified referee or umpire – in fact, we would prefer you weren’t. All we want if for you to understand the intricacies of your sport, have a passion and be willing to teach the new people in your league the rules. 

If you like making people’s lives better, then this could be for you. Without sounding like a bunch of wankers, being an Event Host, changes lives. People have been socially disconnected for so long and getting social in a sporting environment has been an intimidating choice. Our hosts are trained to make special

It’s simple to be involved. Once your league is assigned it’s yours for the 10 week season. You get handed a brand-new uniform, equipment and speaker and your League Manager will make sure you get a warm welcome to meet the players and captains. Your roster is sent out weekly and your payments go through every Monday. Goodbye weekend spending guilt!

The staff perks are good! You can play for free in any other league of your choice. We host insanely good social nights which act as a fun way to meet more like-minded people. Some cities even offer extra incentive for you to cover shifts on an ad-hoc basis.

The pay is generous. Starting at $28 per hour of potential tax-free earnings, this is a good gig. You get paid to train and you get paid to be a part of a fun-loving community.

“I love hosting, it’s the best part of my week, I legit just forget my daily troubles” – RyRy

“Great Money for Beers on Weekends" - Max

"I Love Creating an environment that's almost like one big group of friends where everyone is there to have a great time together" - Kia

"I enjoy the social aspects of meeting new people, making friends and enjoying a good beer" - Andi

"I get Paid to hang out with awesome people who become good friends over seasons" - Rachel

Choose a location and night that suit you and start making money in your side hustle as soon as next week. The process for applying is simple and easy and you get trained in everything you need to know.

We’re recruiting now for spring apply for your new side hustle here. 

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Christmas in j-UR-ly!

July 7, 2022 - 2 years ago

Its the middle of winter, but we’re turning up the heat... for THEME WEEK! Yes ladies & gents, the infamous theme week is back, but this time, we’re bringing Assembly along for the ride.

You could have guessed it, but July + Urban Rec = Christmas in j-UR-ly, proudly brought to you by Assembly, The Peoples Pub!

This July 11th to 17th, get out your ugly Christmas sweaters, put your jingle bells on, and defrost your Mum’s copy of Michael Bublé for a tree-mendous time!

Besides just looking amazing and having a good time with it, wouldn’t be Urban Rec if there were no prizes.

ON GROUND PRIZES  Your League Mangers will be roaming the streets with their Santa Sacks looking for teams or players who really put effort into looking ugly .. in their Christmas Sweaters.

ASSEMBLY PRIZES  Assembly will have some tables reserved for Urban Rec from Monday - Thursday. Head in there before or after your game, claim your Urban Rec $20 Schnitty/Burger and drink deal, BUT most importantly dress to impress because Assembly will be picking the best dressed each night & will be giving out some vouchers.

MAJOR PRIZE  Can’t have a theme week without a major prize.. get your whole team involved because you don’t want to miss out on this. Dress your team up, dress them up big. Take a photo and put it on your socials, tag Urban Rec Canberra & Assembly and go in the draw to win the major prize! Simple.

It has been a while between theme weeks, so cant wait to see everyone get involved!

Don’t forget, tag #urbanreccanberra in your social posts to get the snowball rolling, we can’t wait to see you SLEIGH!

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