The Ivor Burge Championships are the National Basketball Championships for Players with an Intellectual Disability (a participant’s eligibility is based on an Intelligence Quotient [IQ] of 75 or below). You will need to have completed appropriate IQ testing and have an Ausrapid Number. Selection for these teams are made via tryouts prior to the event.

What is the Ivor Burge Championship?

The Ivor Burge Championship is a apart of the Australian Junior Championships series (AJC’s). The AJC’s are a series of events that form the pinnacle for emerging athletes within Australia seeing the National Champion crowned at the conclusion of each event. These inclusive events provide athletes with the opportunity to represent their state or club on the national stage and give athletes the chance to experience a replication of the high-performance environment that Australian national teams experience when they compete internationally.

Since the Australian Basketball team for People with an Intellectual Disability made their international debut at the 1992 Paralympic Games in Barcelona, the Australian Sports & Recreation Association for People with an Intellectual Disability (AUSRAPID), together with Basketball Australia, created the Ivor Burge Championship.

It was decided to title the Tournament the Ivor Burge Championship as Ivor Burge is considered one of the founding fathers of Basketball in this country. Although he went to college in Springfield, Massachusetts, after graduating he came back to Australia to promote the game further.

Sponsor the Ivor Burge Team

To send an athlete to the Ivor Burge National Championships, Basketball Queensland anticipates that it will cost $2,500 per player, noting that there will be ten players per men’s and women’s team. Many of our athletes are in receipt of NDIS funding or Centrelink benefits and are likely lack the financial capacity to pay their way.

While Basketball Queensland is doing all that is possible to reduce this liability for the players, we would greatly appreciate the support from the wider Queensland community to help us send our best twenty athletes with intellectual impairments to the National Championships for the first time since 2013.

Our goal is to support every athlete with an intellectual impairment chosen to represent QLD can compete at an elite level, unencumbered by financial strain. 

CLICK HERE FOR SPONSROSHIP EOI