By Dion Stergiopoulos
With the season for representative basketball complete, we reflect on a highlight back in May where St George Basketball Association was recognised at a meeting of the NSW Legislative Assembly by Mark Coure MP, NSW State Member for Oatley.
In a community recognition statement, Mr Coure recognised the historic moment St George Basketball welcomed Panathinaikos AKTOR Basketball Club CEO and President Vassilis Parthenopoulos.
Panathinaikos Basketball Club was founded in 1919 and is one of the oldest sporting clubs in Greece.
Over the years, Panathinaikos has developed into one of the most successful basketball clubs in Greek basketball history, and one of the most successful in European basketball history.
Since its inaugural season, Panathinaikos has gone on to win 7 EuroLeague Championships, 40 Greek Basket League Championships, 21 Greek Cups, 1 Intercontinental Cup, 1 Greek Super Cup and 2 Triple Crowns.
Panathinaikos along with Aris are the only teams never to be relegated from the Greek First Division Basketball Championship and both have participated in every season of the Greek premier basketball competition.
On Tuesday, May 13, Mr Parthenopoulos had the opportunity to watch a training session and scrimmage from U14 and U16 junior representative teams and was very impressed with the young talent on show.
Several St George Basketball board members were also in attendance for this historic event, including Treasurer George Aliferis, President Ray Barbi, Head of Coaching Luther Shannon and Youth League Mens Assistant Coach Angelo Tsitsos.
St George Basketball is a club with a very large Hellenic heritage population as well as players from many different countries, and takes pride in the vast range of nationalities throughout its many junior and senior representative teams.
During his statement to the NSW Legislative Assembly, Mr Coure stated that he has always been impressed with the club’s dedication and love to the game of basketball and congratulated them on an historic moment in the association’s history.
“St George Basketball truly are one of the finest grassroots sporting organisations in my community and I am never left unimpressed with their love for the game,” he said.
“I congratulate all involved and thank Mr Parthenopoulos for making time in a busy international schedule to acknowledge the strength of basketball right here in the St George area.”
Panathinaikos and Partizan KK will be in Australia ahead of the historic 7th annual Pavios Giannakopoulos Tournament where they will take on NBL Giants Sydney Kings and Adelaide 36ers from 18-21 September 2025.
